The angel who lost her wings
by ninja-bitch
Summary: Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi are training when Naruto meets a new girl in town and who wants to find her forgotten past. Only to find that she is part of Sasukes past! P.S: there are bits which are in italic... it will all become clear later!
1. forsaken angel

The girl gazed nervously at the gates to the Hidden Village of Leaves, her heart racing at the thought of recovering some of her lost memories. The Hidden Grass Village had been very good to her, had taken her in, had nursed her back to life. But she still didn't feel as though she fitted in.

They still hadn't worked out what had happened to her. An elderly woman from that village had found her while on a walk in the forest. She had had cuts and bruises all over her body and terrible internal bleeding, not to mention all her torn clothes and lack of memory. They only knew her name was Mika because it was tattooed on the back of her neck, covered by her purple top.

She took a deep, calming breath, tried to tidy her rich puce coloured hair and knocked. Almost immediately a man opened a small side door and gazed at her curiously, she smiled awkwardly at him, noticing the different symbol on his forehead protector.

Suddenly she got a flash of a memory in which she was a very small child, jumping up and down, trying to get hold of one of those head bands which an older boy was holding just out of reach. It only lasted a second, but Mika was thrown by the sudden flashback… and it clearly showed.

'Are you alright?' asked the man, watching her anxiously. 'Are you here on business or leisure?' he asked, trying to work out whether she was dangerous or not.

'I… err… I'm not sure.' she mumbled uncertainly, rubbing her forehead beneath her forehead protector. She knew the man only wanted to help her, but she had been thrown completely off guard. The woman standing behind her stepped forwards and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

'My name is Miyuki Aneko.' she said quietly, her voice shaking slightly as it always did, soothing Mika with it's familiarity. 'I am the girl's guardian since we do not know who her family is. That is indeed our mission.' she added smiling down at the apprehensive girl. 'We're harmless.'

The man smiled kindly and stepped to one side, letting them both through and bidding them both have a nice day. They went through the gates, watched by a couple more guards who nodded politely at them and smiled.

'Mika, what happened back there?' asked Miyuki uneasily. 'You looked as though you were going to be sick.' They walked slowly along the crowded market place, slow enough for Miyuki to keep her strength up; she was very old.

'I got another flash.' admitted the girl rubbing her left eye. She had had a couple of them before now, but none so vivid. 'It was the forehead protector.' she added.

'The symbol?' asked the ancient woman slowly, Mika nodded. 'Then we're in the right village.' she continued, smiling reassuringly at the worried girl. 'Would you like some ramen?' she asked, noticing what looked like a small ramen restaurant. Mika smiled gratefully at her and followed her to the bar where she sat down. Miyuki ordered and the absented herself to the bathroom.

Mika looked over at the boy beside her eating his ramen veraciously. He had blond hair, and orange and black track-suit and what looked like whiskers. She also noticed his forehead protector, helping her decide to talk to him.

'So… err… what exactly is in ramen?' she asked nervously, trying to sound non-chalant, but failing. The boy mumbled something incoherent with his mouth full, without looking at her. 'I guessed it had something to do with noodles, I just wanted to know what!' she giggled, a little awkwardly making him look up reluctantly.

He jumped suddenly and his face turned beetroot red as a huge sheepish grin stretched from one of his ears to the other. Mika grinned back uncomfortably as he scratched the back of his neck, his eyes darting briefly up to her forehead protector and the Grass Village symbol.

'Not from around here, huh?' he asked her, still grinning.

'It's complicated.' she answered looking down at the counter where the barman had placed a glass of water. 'In fact, would you know where I could get a forehead protector with that symb-'

'Never mind that!' interrupted the blond boy, surprising the brown eyed girl. 'The question is: Do you have a map?' he said loudly, his rasping voice hovering around them both. Mika raised an inquiring eyebrow, widening her eyes in disbelief. 'Because I err… I think I'm lost in your eyes.' he finished, blushing uncontrollably.

'I'm sorry?' she asked awkwardly, feeling her cheeks burn bright red and watched as the boys did too. 'I don't even know your name.'

'I'm Naruto Uzumaki.' he said quickly, his cheeks slowly fading back to tan. 'What's your name?'

'Mika… I kinda don't know my second name… that's why it's complicated.' she answered smiling apologetically. 'I lost my memory.' she explained, seeing his confused face.

'At least it wasn't your mind!' exclaimed Naruto loudly, laughing in a friendly way, making Mika feel welcome.

_'I like it here.'_ she thought to herself as she and her new friend continued to giggle. _'I feel like I belong, somehow.'_

'So who's this?' came Miyuki's voice from behind Mika. 'We've been her less than five minutes and you've already made a new friend!' she continued, smiling kindly at the couple of pre-teens.

'This is Naruto Uzumaki, Miyuki sensei.' explained Mika happily, glancing from one to the other.

'About the head band thing,' said the friendly boy. 'I can ask Kakashi sensei, if you like.' he finished, obviously trying to impress her by his good deed.

'Thanks, that would be great!' exclaimed Mika happily, excited of getting even more integrated into this community.


	2. innocent angel

_The little girl sighed mournfully as the rain pattered down at the glass pane. She looked sadly away from the window and made her way back to where she had been sitting on the floor, her drawing unfinished and her best friend busy on his own picture._

_'Why does it have to rain on my birthday?' she asked as she picked up a blue crayon. 'I'm big now, I shouldn't have to be stuck inside any more.' she added colouring in a bit of her picture._

_'Oh yeah, four years old.' sneered an older boy who was polishing his forehead protector. ' Really big.' he added sarcastically._

_'Yama, don't taunt your little sister.' came a deep calming voice from the kitchen, as the children's father poked his head around the corner. Yama got up and walked out of the living room, sneering at the girl as he passed her._

_'I bet ninja don't stay inside when it rains.' continued the little girl gazing down at her picture proudly. The boy beside her stayed silent, he felt uncomfortable because she was in a bad mood. 'Do you like your name?' she asked suddenly, looking at him curiously._

_'My parents chose a name for me and I must honour it.' he said after a short pause. The girl rolled her pretty deep hazel eyes exasperatedly._

_'Yes, but would you prefer another name?' she asked slowly. 'A different one.' He shook his head, smiling at her. She turned back to her drawing. 'You had to have white shorts, didn't you?' she exclaimed, smiling adoringly at her best friend who giggled back at her._

_She looked down at her two stick figures, herself and the boy sitting next to her. She was trying to colour in the lines but had come up against his white shorts. The boy reached over with a black crayon and drew the outline of a pair of oversized shorts onto his stick-self._

_'That looks okay.' he said, admiring his handiwork. The girl smiled up at him, agreeing. She then bent back over the picture and wrote, in very shaky letters, his name followed by "from Mika"._


	3. forsaken angel 2

Mika and Miyuki followed Naruto to where he knew Kakashi was teaching Sasuke and Sakura a new technique which, somehow, he had already perfected. He spent the whole five minute walk finding out every detail of her: they thought she was fifteen because she was so well… ahem developed and she believed she came from the Hidden Leaf Village because she had uncovered a hidden memory of the leaf symbol.

'_So,' _he thought to himself, _'she's two years older than me… but she seems to like me… plus she's HOTT!!!' _He blushed as he imagined that she could hear his thoughts. 'Err… Kakashi's just round here.' he told the two women who were smiling expectantly at him.

When they arrived at the large platform, they saw Sakura concentrating hard in the very centre, a small ring of fire around her feet… but it soon dwindled then died away, leaving her panting and disappointed.

'You are getting better, Sakura.' came Kakashi's voice away to the small audience's left. 'Slowly. There is no shame in being the last one to perfect a jutsu.' the girl huffed unhappily. 'I must speak with our guests.'

'Kakashi Sensei!' called out Naruto, waving to his teacher who walked slowly over to them. 'These ladies have come from the Hidden Grass Village because she's lost her memory!' he explained, pointing at Mika who blushed crimson, smiling awkwardly.

'Sir, I am but a humble old woman now and haven't the strength to follow young ninja around any more.' said Miyuki slowly. 'Would you mind taking her on? She's no trouble.'

'Now Miyuki, I know that you were not always a humble old woman.' replied the silver haired man quietly, secret understanding echoing between them softly, making the old woman smile. 'What sort of level are you?' he asked, addressing the small girl.

'I'm average.' she answered politely, fiddling nervously with her purple skirt.

'Hidden Grass Village average.' pointed out Miyuki quickly nodding to Kakashi, understanding yet again floating between them.

'Would she be able to keep up with me?' asked the man still watching the brown eyed girl curiously.

'Naturally.' replied the old woman smiling proudly at the girl with the rich plum coloured hair. 'She's got a gift for strategies as well.' she added, nodding shakily again. Mika grinned sheepishly, her cheeks burning again as she felt two pairs of eyes boring into the back of her head.

'_Why does she always have to say that?'_ she asked herself uncomfortably, looking over her shoulder and seeing the pink haired girl and the blond boy both watching her curiously. _'I'm not that good… I came seventh for goodness sake… I'm average!'_

'She came seventh!' added Miyuki, as if on cue making Mika's eyes widen in horror and embarrassment. 'Seventh out of twenty, that is.'

'At the Grass Village Academy?' asked Kakashi raising his eyebrows in surprise. 'That would be just below our top student's level.' Miyuki nodded proudly.

'_What?'_ Mika screamed incredulously in her own head. _'I've been the second best in this village and they've been constantly telling me I'm average?!?!'_

'Okay, well I'm still going to have to ask you one question, to see if you're good enough for my squad. Otherwise you'll have to go into a different squad. Understand?' said Kakashi coming and standing in front of her, towering above her menacingly but she didn't cower or even flinch. She nodded decisively, but before the masked man could continue there was a sound of choking behind them.

'Mika?!?!?!' came Sasuke's voice from the other side of the platform, spitting out a mouthful of whatever he was drinking, his face that of astonished shock and disbelief. Mika gazed at him in surprise. 'Is that really you?'

Suddenly he'd thrown the cup out of his hand and run over to her, thrown his arms around her shoulders and was hugging her passionately, as though she was a long lost friend, bitter sweet tears pouring out of his deep blue eyes.

'I didn't think you- I thought that-' he stuttered, the tears tearing his voice up. 'I thought he killed… where have you-' suddenly he stopped. 'Why aren't you happy to see me?' he asked quietly, the pain audible in his voice. He let her go and stood back, looking her up and down. 'It's you, isn't it? I'd recognize you anywhere.'

'I… I'm… I don't know who you are.' she said quietly, conscious of his pain and feeling awkward that she didn't remember him while he had had this extreme reaction. The tears were still falling from his eyes, rolling down his red cheeks, as his face fell, what looked like his dreams shattered and it seemed as though he had just been murdered inside. 'I can't remember,' she tried to explain, tried to ease his pain which she didn't understand. 'I lost-'

'I'm sure it's you!' he exclaimed suddenly, desperation coursing through his voice. 'You're Mika, aren't you?' she nodded quickly. 'And you've got your name tattooed on the back of your neck, right?' he asked, pressing for an answer which might ease his obvious agony.

'How did you-' asked Mika nervously, her hand automatically reaching for the back if her neck where she knew her name was inscribed for eternity in beautiful Japanese script, but he interrupted her.

'Because you're Mika Tikaake!' he cried desperately, the tears rolling down his cheeks again as he tried to prove his point, guessing that she couldn't remember. 'We used to be best friends! You're family and mine! We were always together! How can you not remember?!?' he asked finally, distraught frustration tearing him from the inside out. 'It's me!' he continued, pressing his hands on his chest. 'It's me! Sasuke! You've got to remember!' he finished, grabbing her roughly by the upper arms and shaking her in disappointment.

At that moment Kakashi stepped in and pulled Sasuke off of the girl who had by now started crying herself at the sight of Sasuke's anguish. The blue haired boy fought ferociously to get to the brown haired girl but Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura were all holding him back, fighting back their own tears at his agonising frustration. Mika watched in horror as they pulled the boy named Sasuke away, still fighting viciously to get to her, to try and show her. She turned around and pressed her tearful face into Miyuki's shoulder to try and drown out his desperate calls, his pleas to her.

'Please Mika! Please remember!' he screamed at her, seeing her hide her face in the old woman's shoulder. 'You've got to remember! Please, you're the only one left!' he yelled before Kakashi put a sleep spell on him and forced him to fall into a deep slumber, but his voice still echoed agonisingly in the plum colour haired girl's head. She hated herself. Why couldn't she remember?

When he had finally stopped moving and trying to get to Mika, she looked out from Miyuki's shoulder and followed her over to where the boy was stretched out on the ground, his face finally relaxed but the marks the tears had made where still etched into his cheeks. She looked down on the poor boy as he breathed deeply, his eye twitching every now and then in his sleep as he dreamt. She looked up at the three people kneeling beside him: Naruto was looking up at her curiously, Kakashi was muttering under his breath with his hand on the boys forehead and the girl, Sakura, was gazing down at Sasuke tenderly, tears gushing down her own cheeks.

'You know Sasuke?' asked Naruto curiously, still watching Mika from his kneeling position beside Sasuke's legs. Mika shook her head slowly, trying not to cry out in pain at what she'd just put the boy through.

'I can't remember.' she whispered, not able to speak properly due to the emotion tearing her throat, begging her to scream out in pain, but she held it back. Suddenly the pink haired girl glared up at her threateningly.

'How can you not remember?' she asked sarcastically, poison etched in her tone. 'What, did you get amnesia or something?' she asked, just as nastily. 'He obviously remembers you, why can't you remember him?'

'Calm down Sakura.' said Kakashi calmly as he got up, still looking down at Sasuke's lifeless body. 'It's not her fault. And we've got to try and accept her as someone noone knows and has never heard of until she can recover her memories.' he said quietly looking up at the girl kindly.

'Why?' asked Sakura menacingly, glowering at the tear stricken Mika. 'She just barges in here, expects to be accepted for something she is and puts Sasuke through all that, and now we have to accept her?'

'Yes.' replied Kakashi shortly, without even looking at the angry girl. He walked calmly up to Mika and put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. 'Don't worry, she's not always like this.' he said quietly before continuing in a whisper. 'She's jealous that Sasuke is so emotional over you while he finds her annoying.'

'She can have that any day.' answered Mika tearfully, looking up into his friendly face. He smiled kindly underneath his mask.

'I do still have to ask you that question.' he said quietly, she nodded. 'Imagine you are the leader of a squad and you're pursuing a band of renegade ninja in a dense forest. They turn and face you. What do you do?' he asked, watching her as she worked it all out in her head.

'It depends on what my squad is like.' she said after a moment, gazing vacantly off into the distance. 'What level are they? Are they my level? All of them?' Kakashi nodded. 'I'd send the fastest off to position themselves on the opposite side of the band, then the second would position themselves at an angle, thus surrounding them. I would act as a decoy, attacking them full on taking all their attention and then the others would attack from behind, catching the renegade ninja off guard, that way I am the one in the most danger so the others can escape safely if needed and call for reinforcements.' she finished looking up into his face benignly.

'So teamwork is a big part of your plan?' asked the jonin. 'Their safety before yours?' he added, closing his eyes and scratching his chin through the mask. 'Good. That's the same sort of strategy I would have used. Good. Yes, you can stay in my squad.'

'What?!?!' screamed Sakura, outraged. (inner Sakura: What? She gets to stay in our squad?!?!?! That means she'll be close to Sasuke!!! How dare she? Sasuke is mine!!! He was just coming around to it as well!)

'Mika's gonna be in our squad? Awesome!' exclaimed Naruto punching the air above his head. 'I'll give you a tour of the village if you like! There's loads of stuff to do, believe it!' he finished, beaming up at her.

Mika smiled uncertainly at him.


	4. innocent angel 2

_Mika yawned deeply. She'd been waiting for him for at least five minutes… at the age of five she thought that people might take her more seriously, but he was still late… on top of that he was the one who had told her to meet him here because he had found a great new place. She looked around, bored; she knew this place like the back of her hand: the clearing in the forest outside her house, just before the river where she and her best friend (who happened to be late) often swam in the summer, despite their parents warnings._

'_Mika! Mika, over here!' came that familiar voice, about twenty feet to the girl's right. 'Sorry I'm late, Brother wanted to tell me something.'_

'_So he's more important than me?' she asked jokingly, running over to him, a huge smile on her happy face, mirrored in his own. 'What did he want? Is he going to train you then? I wish Yama would train me… Do you think your brother might train me too?'_

'_He might!' answered the little boy excitedly, 'I suppose you and him should get to know each other a bit more…' there was an awkward pause. They didn't usually bring this subject up, and swiftly changed it if it did occur. 'Why won't Yama train you?' he asked, stifling the painful silence._

'_Because he doesn't like me.' replied the girl sadly, her usually bouncy head drooping a little. 'I'm a girl and he thinks girls aren't as good at being ninjas as boys.' she added grumpily._

'_Well you'll show him, won't you?' said the boy, trying to perk his best friend up a little, but it didn't work. He took her little hand in his and pulled her gently along behind him. 'Come on, I have to show you something that I found the other day!' he said excitedly, looking over his shoulder at the girl's confused face._

_They ran through the quiet forest, giggling at nothing in particular, happy to be young, free and best friends. They soon arrived at the edge of what looked like a clearing, except that the ground was covered in large, slimy looking, mollusc-like things. They were about five feet tall, about a foot above their heads, a strange sort of dark red colour and they smelt faintly like a mix of moss and seaweed. The boy gazed up at them proudly, still clutching the girls hand, as she grimaced up at them in relative disgust._

'_What are they?' she asked quietly, nervous they might bite if they knew she was there. 'They smell weird.' she added, wrinkling her nose as she got a whiff of their peculiar fragrance._

'_I don't know what they are.' answered the boy, shrugging but still smiling up at them. 'But look at how cool they are!' he added letting go of the girls hand, making her feel insecure, and running up to the first one and throwing himself onto it. He clambered up inelegantly and then sat on it for a moment, gazing down at Mika, bouncing slightly. 'Aren't they neat?' he asked again, his face pulled into an excited expression, waiting for her approval._

'_Umm…' answered the brown eyed girl awkwardly, stepping gingerly closer to the large red thing, feeling mud squelch beneath her toes._

'_Don't stay down there too long, there's loads of mud and I lost my shoe when I first found this place.' pointed out the dark eyed boy, holding his hand out for the girl to take which she did, he pulled her up onto the bouncy thing, tugging her by her shirt._

_She looked around and saw hundreds more of these strange mollusc-like things, stretched out across the whole clearing. She grasped the boys hand for support as the thing she was gingerly kneeling on wobbled like a massive piece of jelly, giving her the impression that it wasn't very stable._

'_Are you sure this thing is safe?' she asked, taking the boys other hand as well and inching a little closer for extra support. The boy shrugged unhelpfully._

'_I've only got this far.' he said, a small laugh in his voice. 'We're in the same boat!' he added, the girl looked up at him incredulously. 'What? I was too scared to go any further on my own! I thought you'd like to do it with me! You usually like this sort of thing.' he added, tentatively trying to stand up. Mika stood up too and the two children looked around the plain of red, mollusc-like squishiness._

_Suddenly the boy pushed the small girl forwards, onto the next crimson thing, making her squeal out in terror. The boy giggled at the girl as she picked herself up off of her stomach and glared back at him with an incredulous smile on her pretty face._

'_What d'you do that for?!?!?!' she asked, standing up again as he continued to clutch his stomach and roar with laughter. She jumped back onto his squishy thing and shoved him onto the next one, making him cry out in surprise. 'Ha! Take that!' He got up again with a mischievous look on his face._

'_You're gonna pay for that!' he growled in fake fury. The girl squealed and ran off, leaping from mollusc to mollusc at great speed, trying not to fall in the gaps between them. They raced to the opposite end of the clearing and back again, squealing excitedly the whole way before virtually falling down on the first one they had been on, out of breath and sweating crazily._

'_I've got an… idea.' said the dark eyed boy between gasps of breath. The girl looked over at him from her own mollusc, curiously. 'Let's… have a… race!' he said excitedly, still gasping for breath._

'_Can I… just have a… a moment here?' gasped the girl, lying down on her mollusc, forgetting the slime and the smell. The boy nodded silently and lay down on his own, gazing up at the clear blue sky. He saw out of the corner of his eye a plum coloured shape moving around, he looked over and saw his best friend getting up and rushing off, giggling. He jumped up and ran after her, jumping from mollusc to mollusc, dodging the mini canyons between them where he knew thick mud lay at the bottom._

_He overtook her just before they got to the end, laughing triumphantly at her as he did so. He got to the end and turned to go the other way, but his foot slipped on the slimy crimson thing and he fell down, letting Mika overtake him again to his infuriation. He leapt up again and continued the pursuit, catching up to her as he did so until he was only a couple of yards behind her. Suddenly she disappeared down one of the mini canyons with a small yelp. He stopped to see if she was alright and even held his hand out for her to take, which she did. The next thing he knew, he was sitting between two molluscs, covered in mud while Mika was back on top and finishing the race._

'_That's not fair!' he shouted as he heaved himself up, back onto a mollusc. 'You cheated!' he yelled as he watched her coming back slowly. His muddy hand slipped on the slimy surface and he fell back down into the thick mud. He sat there in silence, despair coursing through him quietly and felt the tears prick the back of his eyes._

'_Come on then!' came Mika's voice from above him. 'Do you want to get out or not?' she asked, a friendly smile audible in her sweet voice. The boy folded his arms defiantly and looked away from her, he felt her hand tickle his head as she tried to pull him out without his help, but it soon stopped and he presumed that she had given up. He felt his eyes water and a small tear leak out and down his cheek as he wondered how he was going to get out._

_Suddenly he saw a small, muddy foot appear in front of his eyes, dangling from above, then another foot appeared, followed by a muddy skirt of which you could hardly see the rich purple colour underneath, quickly followed by his best friend: Mika._

_She sat down in front of him, smiling sweetly as though trying to say that it was okay for him to cry. She stuck her finger into the sodden earth and pulled it out again before drawing it along her cheek, creating a line of brown where her finger had passed across her clean skin. She smiled at him again, reached over and did the same to him._

'_Now we're mud brother and sister.' she said quietly, her smile unwavering. There was a long pause in which the boy didn't do anything. 'You know what else we can do to make the bond stronger?' she asked, trying to win the boy back. He shook his head gently, watching her quietly. The girl shoved her entire hand into the mud, pulled it out again and then thrust it onto the boys chest, leaving a muddy handprint in the middle of his t-shirt. The boy looked down at the muddy mark she had left on his chest, and then looked back up at her, a minute smile playing across his lips. He stuck his own hand into the ground and pressed it against her flat chest, leaving the same mark on her chest._

_The girl gently took his muddy hand in hers and got up, pulling him behind her. Together they helped each other out from between the maroon molluscs, the boy pushing Mika out and then Mika tugging the boy out by his t-shirt and shorts._

'_Let's go home.' she said once they were both out, sitting on the slimy jelly-like thing._

_They both got up and made their way slowly over to the edge of the clearing, homeward bound, hand in hand, not realising that the dirty hand marks on their chests would stay there forever._


	5. forsaken angel 3

Mika followed the white haired man apprehensively, twiddling her purple top. She knew the pink haired girl was walking a few paces behind her, glowering at her back, while the blond boy, Naruto, chatted with her… well, at her. He was telling her about the time he had saved Sasuke's life when he had become a human pin-cushion due to multiple attacks from a girl claiming she was a guy, but Naruto claimed he had seen straight through her disguise.

'Why is that girl so mean to me?' asked Mika turning to Naruto suddenly. 'What did I do?' Naruto sighed exasperatedly. Sasuke was always in people's minds, even when he was K.O., and even when they didn't realise who he was.

'Sakura kinda… likes Sasuke.' explained Naruto, looking straight ahead, not catching the girl's deep hazel eyes. 'And when he acted like that to you…well, you know, begging for you to remember him… he's never acted that way before… to anyone… and I guess Sakura was just jealous.' he glanced over his shoulder at a fuming Sakura.

'Well, he seems pretty… umm…' started the girl with the plum coloured hair a little awkwardly. 'intense.' she finished, looking over at her new friend apologetically. 'And he's very emotional, isn't he?' she said, glancing nervously over her shoulder at the girl staring daggers at her.

'He's not usually like that.' said Kakashi, looking over his shoulder at them both, he slowed so they could catch up to him and nudged his way in between them. 'I'm not sure why you brought that on in him.'

'So it's my fault?' she asked looking up at him incredulously. 'I only just got into this village and some guy throws himself on me, screaming at me to remember him.'

'It's not your fault.' reassured the tall man, smiling down at her kindly. 'He's not like that normally. At all.' he added, widening his eyes.

'Are you sure he'll be okay in the infirmary?' piped up Sakura, stepping forwards in between Kakashi and Mika, elbowing the girl in the ribs discreetly. 'I should have stayed with him, I just know it.' she added guiltily.

'The infirmary is full of healers who will look after him much better than you ever could, Sakura.' answered the jonin exasperatedly. 'And I doubt he'd appreciate you watching him sleeping.' he added smiling impishly, Sakura looked over at Mika venomously.

A little later, when they had gotten a new Hidden Leaf Village forehead protector for Mika, they were heading to find somewhere for the new girl to stay when they heard running footsteps behind them. They looked around curiously and saw a young boy with a blue t-shirt and white shorts running towards them. Mika winced awkwardly, remembering what had happened last time.

'Sasuke!' cried Sakura, taking a step towards him but he just ran straight past her and stopped in front of the brown eyed girl, breathing heavily. 'Are you better?' but he didn't answer her, he just continued gazing at the girl with the plum coloured hair.

'I'm really sorry about earlier.' he said after a moment, his chest still heaving. 'I just… Uhh… I don't know.' he stuttered awkwardly. 'I just think that… you know… you should remember me.' he said quietly, still watching her closely.

'I'm really sorry.' she answered quietly, trying to explain her situation to him. 'I… I kinda lost my memory.' she said slowly, a little embarrassed. 'It was sorta stolen.' she added, glancing around at the other three around her.

'I know who by.' said Sasuke swallowing nervously. 'I know why too.' he added, trying to win her back. 'Because he destroyed my clan too.' he finished darkly. Mika's eyes widened in surprise.

'I'm part of a clan?' she asked incredulously, looking at him curiously. 'How do you know all this?' she asked quickly. 'Which clan? Where are they now? What happened to them? Why aren't they looking after me?' she asked desperately.

'I'll tell you all about it.' promised the dark haired boy, 'We can go and have a drink or something?' he offered, smiling a friendly smile. In the background Mika heard Sakura yelping quietly in the background.

'Thanks, that would be great.' she answered a little self-consciously, feeling the weight of a thousand daggers pressing against her back and guessed that Sakura was glowering at her.

'Maybe we could all go!' suggested Sakura desperately, glancing hopefully from one to the other. (inner Sakura: No way am I letting her get her dirty little hands on my precious Sasuke!)

'I think it's best if just Sasuke and Mika went, actually.' said Kakashi slowly in his enthralling voice. 'This is a private matter, Sakura.' he added as Sasuke and Mika turned and started walking off in the direction of the high street. 'Just between them.'

'But…' she whimpered piteously, looking imploringly up at her sensei. 'My Sasuke.' she finished, watching him walking off with the girl with the plum hair and the black and purple outfit. She narrowed her eyes, wishing that looks could kill, but Mika (inner Sakura: stupid name) just continued to walk beside Sasuke.

'Sensei, was she in a clan?' asked Naruto still watching her head off beside the dark haired boy. 'Which clan? Do you know her?' Kakashi sighed and closed his eyes as though he was worn out.

'She was part of the Tikaake clan.' he said on the out breath, opening his eyes again wearily to watch her as the couple turned a corner and disappeared from sight. 'A small clan who kept themselves to themselves, but they were very powerful. Almost as powerful as the Uchiha clan, because they didn't have to use hand movements to use attacks: each member of the clan had the ability to control one element from each of the countries and villages.'

'But she can't remember that.' said Naruto, concentrating on what Kakashi had just explained. 'So, can she still control her element? Which element is it?' he asked in quick succession, curious to find out more about this clan… and the girl.

'I think that because she doesn't know she has the power,' started the jonin slowly, frowning to himself. 'she can't control the element. Because that would cause quite a few problems.' he added, nodding to himself.

'Which is her element?' persisted Naruto unremittingly, his hands balled into fists with anticipation. 'Do you know? Huh? Do you?' Kakashi chuckled paternally at the enthusiastic young boy.

'Yes I do know.' he answered after a moment. 'She has control over the waterfall element.' he said quietly, smiling down at Naruto.

'How do you know all this?' asked Sakura quietly, a little suspicious of her teacher. 'And why are you so sad? I saw your face, your expression changed when you told us about her clan.' she said, narrowing her eyes up at him.

'I know all this because I met Mika's family a few times.' he explained, his face falling subtly. 'I was very close to someone who's family was very close to the Tikaake clan. I met Mika several times.' he finished quietly, looking down at the ground and away from the two young people watching him closely.

'But, you said the clan kept themselves to themselves.' pointed out Sakura, working it out in her head. 'Except they were close to the Uchiha clan… You were close to someone in the Uchiha clan!' she exclaimed, proud that she had worked it out.

'I don't want to talk about it.' said Kakashi turning away and starting to walk off in the other direction. Sakura and Naruto called after him, but he just looked over his shoulder and said decisively: 'I don't want to talk about it.' before walking off.

'Way to go, Sakura!' exclaimed Naruto annoyed, crossing his arms moodily. 'Now we can't ask him more questions.'

'You're only interested in her because she's got big…' shouted the pink haired girl before stopping herself and blushing. 'because she's Uhh… fifteen.' she finished, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly.

'I hadn't even noticed.' pointed out Naruto haughtily, making Sakura fume again, knowing perfectly well that he had.


	6. innocent angel 3

_The boy beamed cheerfully as he saw the girl running towards him, grasping her lunch bag in one hand and a forehead protector in the other. He watched as she got closer and closer, glancing nervously over her shoulder as she did so._

'_Come on, we've got to go quick!' she cried as she got close enough for him to hear her, before racing past him. 'Come on! Yama will notice it's gone in a minute!'_

'_Did you steal that from your brother?' asked the boy as he ran along beside her, still smiling as adrenaline pumped through his small body. The girl didn't answer, so he took that as a "yes". Soon enough they heard a yell from away through the woods which the boy in the white shorts had to go through to get to his best friends house._

'_Over here.' gasped Mika, terror and adrenaline gushing through her voice as she ducked down behind a large pillar, big enough to hide both five year olds. 'Do you want to try it on first, or shall I?' she asked, holding the band of fabric out enthusiastically._

'_I'll try it first.' said the boy, taking it from the girl's open hand. He wrapped it gently around his forehead, holding it in place with his hands at the back. 'How do I look?' he asked, looking at Mika expectantly._

'_Like a real ninja!' she answered excitedly. 'You look just like your brother!' she added, knowing that would please him, and as expected, he grinned back at her ecstatically. 'My turn!' she said holding her hands out to him. He placed the forehead protector in her twitching hands and watched as she wrapped it around her forehead, watched as it knocked her small nose a couple of times, making him giggle before she looked up at him expectantly._

'_You look so grown up!' he exclaimed happily, clapping his hand excitedly, 'Just like you said with me! You look like a real ninja!' he added and got the same response as she had moments before._

'_What are you doing?' came a familiar voice from behind the pillar. The two children looked up nervously and recognised the young boys older brother. 'Who's is that?' he asked quietly, his face neutral._

'_It's my brothers.' answered Mika quietly, she was quite scared of her best friends big brother, even though he had never done anything to her to make her so. She knew what she had to do, and it made her awkward around him. Besides, he was so powerful that you couldn't help feeling dwarfed around him. 'I stole it. I'm sorry.' she finished, letting it fall off of her forehead and into her lap where she picked it up and held it up for him to take._

'_Don't apologize to me.' said the older boy, smiling down at them calmly. 'You should return that to Yama.' he said looking over his shoulder as he leaned on the pillar. 'And then you'd better hurry, or you'll be late for the academy.'_

'_Yes sir.' answered Mika submissively, getting up and nodding her head to the boy._

'_Yes brother.' answered the younger brother, smiling at his older sibling, before running off in the direction of the girl's house, followed by the girl herself._

_The older boy stood for a moment, watching his little brother run off followed by the girl. She was quite pretty, her plum coloured hair fluttering in the wind, her short purple skirt fluttering behind her, her small gloved hands clutching the forehead protector as though it was a sacred object. He sighed at the thought of what was to come. He resented his family for choosing his future for him._

_After a minute or so, the couple of children came running out of the woods again, giggling at some mischief they'd got up to in the few moments they'd been out of his sight. He smiled at their innocence as they ran past him, smiling back at him benignly. His brother and his future wife, running off together to the ninja academy to learn how to become ninjas themselves._

_His brother and his future wife. He smiled at how wrong that could sound before walking back into the house._


	7. forsaken angel 4

Sasuke set the drinks down on the table and then sat down opposite Mika in the bar. She smiled over at him, obviously still nervous from their last encounter, but still polite… just as he remembered her. He restrained himself from shouting at her in frustration for not remembering, they had done everything together, and yet she didn't remember.

'Well, umm…' he started awkwardly, unable to look her in the eyes. 'Why don't you start by telling me what you… Uhh, do remember.' he said, looking up into her perplexed face, a small puzzled smile playing across her lips.

'Umm… well,' she started, her eyes darting here and there nervously. 'I remember waking up in a hospital, and an old woman… Miyuki, explaining to me that she had found me in the forest… all battered and bleeding.' she said, smiling nervously over at him. 'Noone can work out what happened to me.' she added shrugging, as though that was it and she had given up.

'I know what happened.' said Sasuke darkly, leaning in a little closer over the table. 'Well, not to you exactly, but I know what happened to your family… to your clan.' he added, watching her face become more and more enthralled. 'My brother. That's what happened, and I'm training to restore my clan and kill him.' he finished darkly, sitting back in his chair and crossing his arms decisively. Mika raised her eyebrows.

'Wouldn't that be a little bit hypocritical?' she asked shaking her head slightly, making her long hair flutter. It was longer than when he had last seen her, but exactly the same colour… and her eyes, still the rich, deep shade of hazel that had always mesmerized him.

'I'm sorry?' he asked, completely thrown by this simple response to his meaningful words of revenge. 'Hypocritical?' he finished, hardly believing his ears.

'Well, yes.' she answered, shrugging apologetically. 'He killed your clan and family, and so you want to sink to his level and kill him.' she explained simply, as though it was the easiest thing to grasp.

'Mika, he betrayed us all.' explained Sasuke, refusing to believe what she was saying. 'Not just my family, nor my clan; but your family and clan too. We were the two strongest clans out of all the others-'

'Okay, well why don't you start by explaining to me the situation with my clan and yours.' interrupted the brown eyed girl feeling uncomfortable that she didn't even know her circumstances. 'Cos' I'm a bit stumped, if you know what I mean?' she finished laughing at herself.

'Your clan was called the Tikaake clan.' he explained, leaning his elbows on the table and sitting forwards. 'You all lived in a little hamlet on the other side of the woods, not far from where I used to live. There was your family, your uncle's family which was just his wife, and your grandparents. Each one of you had control over a certain element from a certain country, like fire or earth… or waterfall.' he added, looking up at her searching for a reaction, but none came so he just continued. 'The thing that made you so powerful was the fact that you didn't need to use hand motions to use your powers, and so noone could really stop you… but your clan was peaceful and only wanted a quiet life… that's why they didn't live in the village, but in the woods.' he looked up again and noticed tears brimming in her eyes.

'I'm sorry.' she said quietly, closing her stunning brown eyes and looking away. Sasuke moved his chair around so he was sitting next to her instead of opposite, and put his hand on her arm which was sitting peacefully in her lap. 'It's just… you say… you say "you did this", and "you did that"…' she said slowly, still not looking at him, but her arm hadn't pulled away. 'I don't remember all that.' she added looking him straight in the eyes. They sat there for a moment in silence. Sasuke began to hope that she was remembering something, but she looked away uncomfortably. 'You keep telling me things… and I want to believe them… but…' she stopped for a moment turning to face him again and taking his hand, 'I don't have powers. I can't control fire… or earth, or anything.'

Sasuke looked down at the pair of hands clutching each other sadly, looking at every detail of hers: the hands which e hadn't held in over three years, but which still gave him Goosebumps when it touched his.

'_She doesn't remember a thing.' _he thought miserably. He looked back up at her face, noticing the tears running slowly down her flushed cheeks, and smiled kindly. 'I want to show you something.' he said quietly, getting up but not letting go of her precious hand. She followed nervously her eyes never leaving his, the trust in them making Sasuke feel very protective. _'I have got to make her remember, no matter what.'_

He led her along the roads, through the centre of the village, right to the far end where the houses became bigger and more expensive, but they went past all the expensive houses and found what looked like an empty one. He led her in, taking his shoes off at the step in the doorway as he had been taught to by his parents. They went along the empty corridors, dust flying around their feet as they made their way slowly through another doorway onto what seemed to be a sort of veranda-like walkway with a wooden wall on their left. He stopped in front of a pair of big wooden doors, the tears stinging his eyes as he remembered the last time he was here. Mika stepped a little closer to him for reassurance, realising this must have been his family home; she looked up at him as he continued to gaze at the large doors, his eyes wet as he fought the tears back.

'Don't stay here.' she whispered, snaking her arm through his and trying to gently prise him away from the wooden doors, but he shook his head.

'No, I want you to see this.' he said, his voice shaky but resolute. With his free arm he pushed the doors open and stepped inside, pulling Mika along with him. There they were: the markings the detectives had left behind when they had found Fugaka and Mikoto Uchiha lying here, dead. The chalk outlines a little faded and hidden by the dust which covered the floor, but the image was still clear in Sasuke's mind: his parents lying there, one on top of the other, and Itachi… his own brother, standing over them like a hunter, proudly observing his kill. Mika stepped forwards to look upon the memory of the horror which Sasuke had witnessed first hand over three years ago. 'Those were my parents.' said the boy, his voice strained against the tears and emotions tearing at his throat and heart.

Mika turned and looked into his face, her own eyes brimmed with tears. She didn't say anything, but he knew she was apologizing even though she didn't know what for. She took his hand again, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end again, and stood right in front of him just gazing up at him, the tears falling down her cheeks by now, and silently let him know that he was safe with her; that he could let it all out, all the emotions he'd hidden away for all those years… he could let them out. He was only human.

Sasuke hung his head as the tears rolled down his cheeks, trying not to show the pain which had torn his life apart from that night on. He let himself fall to his knees on the dusty floor, watching the filth flutter around his legs and Mika's feet. He shut his eyes against the memory, hoping that it might go away, the sound of their voices was still clear in his mind, the memory of Itachi's face as he stood over them.

He felt Mika lower herself to her knees in front of him and pull him into her arms, wrapping them around him and pulling him onto her shoulder as his own shoulders trembled while the tears gushed silently down his cheeks and onto the floor. Mika elegantly moved her knees below his head so he could lean on her properly, and stroked his hair, reminding him of the time he had fallen and grazed his knee training.

'We should go.' she whispered in his ear as he started to calm down. 'This is no place to defile.' she continued as he sat up letting her arms slide gracefully off of his shoulders and back into her lap. She smiled soothingly at him, wishing she could do more. Sasuke wiped his face and stood up, looking over at the marks on the floor one more time before following Mika out again, closing the door respectfully and saying farewell to his parents again.


	8. innocent angel 4

_At the academy Mika and her best friend were practising shuriken target. They each had three shuriken and they had to throw them from twenty feet away and try and hit the bulls eye. So far the young boy had hit just outside the bulls-eye twice and the ring outside that one once, whereas Mika had missed once and the other two were in the second ring to last. She glared at the boy beside her._

'_You should aim a little higher than the bulls-eye.' he advised, noticing her glowering as she ripped the little pieces of metal out of the wood. 'And it looks cool to make them spin-'_

'_I can't make them spin!' she shouted frustrated as she ripped the last one out and stomped back to the twenty feet mark, fuming. She tried again and still only got the last ring. 'Why are you so much better than me?' she asked angrily. 'This just proves Brother's point.' she added._

'_No it doesn't.' contradicted the boy, rubbing his neck awkwardly hoping she hadn't noticed his perfect bulls-eye. 'Look, you're much better than that blond boy over there.' he pointed out the boy in question who was throwing them all over the place, nowhere near the target. He was working on a target with empty ones on either side of him, while all the other target stumps around Mika and her best friend were occupied._

'_Why is he all alone?' she asked, watching him throw another shuriken which hit the ground just in front of Iruka sensei. 'Why aren't the stumps on both sides of him taken?'_

'_Because he's weird.' answered the boy standing next to Mika, as though it was obvious. 'And I don't think anyone wants to be skewered by shuriken.' he added as one of the boys little metal stars landed about a meter from them, making them both jump backwards. Mika's friend glared as the blond boy came running over to reclaim his shuriken._

'_Sorry.' he apologized, bending over and picking up the piece of metal. 'I guess I should practice more, huh?' he added, scratching the back of his neck. Mika smiled at him, finding him funny._

'_I'm not very good either.' she pointed out, shrugging and smiling at him. 'And I practise all the time!' she added, hoping to make him feel more at ease and he laughed along with her. After a sufficient amount of time, Mika asked the question burning on her lips. 'Umm… why are you all alone?'_

'_I don't know.' he admitted, shrugging and looking to his left. 'But I guess it's best while I'm practising my shuriken aim!' he added, laughing at his atrocious shot. The boy next to Mika continued to frown at him. 'I Uhh… guess I'd better go and train…' he said, making his way back over to his stump._

'_He's not weird.' said Mika to the boy next to her when the blond boy was at a safe distance. 'He's funny.' she added, still smiling after him._

'_I don't like him.' declared Mika's friend as he turned to frown at her, showing his disapproval._

'_You don't like anyone.' answered Mika smiling up at him indulgently. He frowned down at her, still not convinced. 'I'm surprised you like me!' she added, grinning mischievously. He smiled back down at her._


	9. forsaken angel 5

Sasuke and Mika wandered around the village, chatting about what it was like when they were all happy, what it was like before… After a while, the young girl looked over at the young boy curiously.

'He really messed you up, huh?' she said quietly, a soft expression on her pretty face. 'Your brother, I mean.' she added, worried he thought she was talking about his father. 'I mean… earlier when you said that you wanted to kill him, I kinda thought that was a little hypocritical, but I get it now. He messed with your head.' she decided, looking straight ahead as Sasuke snapped his head around to look at her in disbelief, but after a moment of thinking he looked away again with a small frown of concentration on his forehead.

'I guess he did.' he answered quietly after a while. She turned to smile at him kindly, he looked at her silently as they continued to meander casually around the village.

'Not that there's anything wrong with wanting to avenge your family.' she added gazing around at the different houses with various people standing around chatting, or walking to assorted rendezvous' they might have. 'That's very honourable of you.' she finished, smiling at him again.

Without thinking, he smiled back at her… the same as he always did before. He looked away, feeling the nostalgia of happy memories lost in time. She noticed his sad face and looked away awkwardly, wondering whether it was something to do with her.

'Hey, wanna have some fun?' she asked suddenly, bouncing out in front of him and tapping her knuckles together hopefully. Sasuke gazed at her for a moment, his face blank but curiosity in his dark eyes. 'Come on.' she coaxed tantalizingly, a look of naughty excitement on her even features. 'When was the last time you had some fun?' she asked, leaning on one foot and crossing her arms, raising an inquiring eyebrow.

'What are you going to do?' asked Sakura suddenly appearing just behind Sasuke, making him and Mika jump in surprise. She also had her arms crossed but, contrary to Mika, she had a disapproving frown on her pretty face. 'Not trouble making I hope.' she added, glaring at Mika accusingly.

'Sakura!' growled Sasuke menacingly, glowering at the pink haired girl. 'We're trying to have a private conversation.' he snarled, awkward that she may have been listening to their conversation.

'That's not what she thinks.' pointed out Sakura, simpering at the boy before glaring at Mika again. 'She's hoping there's something more between you two.' she added slyly, narrowing her eyes deviously.

Mika glared at her incredulously, but Sakura wasn't interested: faster than anyone could have seen, Sasuke had grabbed the stunned girl in a half nelson and had a small blade pressing against the back of her neck ominously, pushing the skin menacingly but not quite breaking through.

'Take. That. Back.' he threatened forebodingly, gritting his teeth as he did so. Sakura whimpered piteously, trying to look over her shoulder at the boy she so longed for.

'Sasuke,' started Mika, watching them both nervously, wondering whether he was always this radical. 'let her go, Sasuke.' she finished quietly, holding her hands out soothingly. The young boy released Sakura, letting her drop to her knees massaging her sore wrists.

'I thought she had insulted you.' he mumbled, watching Mika steadily, worried that he had scared her again. 'I'm sorry… I… I'm not usually like this.' he finished, looking awkwardly down at the ground.

'She didn't insult me…' answered Mika quietly, her eyes darting nervously between the boy and the ground. 'I thought she was insulting you.' she continued, feeling her cheeks burn. 'But you're two years younger than me-' she started apologetically, but Sasuke looked up hopefully.

'No you're not.' he rectified quickly, hope glittering in his dark eyes. 'You're the same age as me! You're birthday is a month after mine.' he added, nodding enthusiastically; Sakura whimpered on the ground in front of him.

'So…Uhh…' started Mika again, twiddling her skirt again uncomfortably. 'Do you… wanna… you know… have some fun?' she asked, her cheeks shining bright red. Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise. 'No!' exclaimed the girl quickly waving her hands crazily at him. 'No, I meant… you know… well I don't know.. Do stuff?' she finished, shrugging her shoulders

awkwardly.

'Sasuke…' whimpered Sakura from where she was kneeling on the ground, clutching her stomach as silent tears inched down her cheeks. (inner Sakura: Please don't do this to me… I love you, Sasuke…)

The dark eyed boy looked down at her silently, then looked back up at Mika who was also looking down at Sakura uncomfortably.

Sasuke walked over to Mika and jerked his head in the direction of the park, indicating that she should follow him… but she didn't. She stepped forwards, towards the pink haired girl who was still trembling on the ground, and held out her gloved hand for Sakura to take. The green eyed girl looked up at Mika in surprise, her eyes still wet from the tears which had leaked from them, but took her hand and got to her feet shakily. Mika smiled at her kindly then turned and ran off to Sasuke who had been watching them quietly, his hands in his pockets.

'Mika Tikaake.' said Sakura quietly, watching them walk away slowly, chatting. 'I will defeat you.' she continued in a whisper. 'I will destroy you.' she finished, her eyes narrow as she glared menacingly at the oblivious couple.


	10. innocent angel 5

_Mika panted as silently as she could, hiding behind an empty barrel somewhere in the village. She could smell the sweet, distinctive smell of apples and guessed that the contents of the empty barrel must have been apples. She tried to peer out but found that she couldn't do so without being seen herself, and she couldn't let that happen… She couldn't be found. People were walking slowly by, not paying any attention to the small girl hiding behind the empty barrel, worrying about their own boring problems… like money, or something dumb like that._

_Suddenly she heard his voice… he was asking someone if they'd seen her. Mika froze in terror: he was going to fins her, and when he did… who knew what he might do to her! She knew that he would find her in her current hiding place, so she discreetly crawled out and behind a large lady with a shopping bag in her hand. Mika grinned up at the unknown lady, hoping she wouldn't mind her hiding behind her. The woman sighed exasperatedly and started walking again, ignoring Mika who was walking along in her wake, trying to make sure she was completely hidden from the boy she was hiding from._

'_I can see you!' she heard him cry just when she was thinking that the coast was clear. She squealed in surprise and dashed out from behind the woman and ran off down the street, painfully aware that he was faster than her and was catching up… fast! She dodged the other people in the street, elegantly twisting her body to narrowly miss a man clutching a whole load of chickens in his arms, she heard the chickens clucking desperately and the man cursing as she knew her friend had crashed into him, apologizing profusely as he ran off after her._

'_Haha! You will never catch me!!!' she cried over her shoulder as she ran through the thick crowd, not caring that people were complaining bitterly. 'Mwahahaha!!!' she laughed in fake maniacal laughter as she shoved another kid she knew from ninja academy out of the way. She turned off into a dark side alley which was a short cut towards her house, and therefore, the woods._

_She dashed around corners, jumped over dustbins and stray cats, and scrabbling over low rooftops leading her closer and closer to her goal: the woods. She jumped over the low wall dividing his house from the field which belonged to her family, and landed in the long grass which came up to her waist. She started to fight against the thick grass, but it got tangled up in her feet and made her trip up forcing her to pick herself up again and try again, but she didn't get very far before she fell over again. She glanced over her shoulder and saw the dark haired boy catching up quickly, but obviously finding it just as difficult as she was. She tried again. The grass getting longer and longer until it was above her head, her feet getting caught in the thick of it at the base bringing her to her knees before she pulled herself desperately up again._

_Suddenly she felt a pair of arms around her waist, pulling her to the ground with the owner of them._

_She turned to look at him, his sweaty forehead and his smiling face, proud that he was able to catch up with her and bring her down; both children's chests were heaving as they panted, exhausted from the chase. Mika laughed for no apparent reason, and the boy joined her._

_He lay back down in the thick grass, flattening a patch and putting his head on his hands, gazing up at the cloudless sky. Mika crawled over to sit beside him and then lay down next to him, their heads not quite touching but close enough to feel the warmth they were both emitting, and despite the heat, appreciating the proximity._

'_Mika,' started the boy, not looking at her. She rolled onto her front and gazed at him quietly, silently letting him know that she was listening. 'Will we be together forever?' he asked quietly, still not looking at her, but she knew what he meant. 'I mean, even when we're old and stuff… will we still be friends?' he asked, finally looking at her inquiringly._

'_Of course we will.' she answered immediately, as though it was the most obvious thing in the universe… and it was. 'Even when we're both married and we have kids and everything.' she continued smiling at the idea of him having babies._

'_But what about before that?' he asked, rolling onto his own stomach and leaning up on his elbows to watch her intently. 'When we're both ninjas… you know and we have to go on missions and stuff.' he added, shrugging awkwardly with one shoulder._

'_Well,' started Mika slowly, working out a solution. 'we'll be on the same team.' she said shortly 'You know, like Obito and Rin and… what was his name, again?' the boy shrugged, 'The guy with the white hair.' she said, frowning to herself. 'Doesn't Emiko know him?' she asked._

'_So we'll be on the same squad?' asked the boy insecurely. 'Promise?' he persisted, making Mika smile._

'_Cross my heart and hope to die.' she said sitting up slightly and crossing her heart with her finger awkwardly._


	11. forsaken angel 6

Mika smiled maliciously over at Sasuke who was holding a limp balloon in his left hand, watching her as though intrigued by what she was doing. Her hands moved swiftly and gracefully through the knots and the fiddly rubber heads, making perfectly sure the water couldn't escape, then placing the fragile sphere on the grass beside the other five. She held out her hand and Sasuke passed her the last empty balloon, she hadn't said a word since they had walked away from Sakura, and he hadn't pushed her to do so: he was content just being with her again. She held the last balloons nozzle under the tap and let the water trickle benignly in, making it expand deliciously onto her free hand which was cupped beneath it for support.

'Who are you going to throw those onto?' he asked finally, speaking the burning question which had been festering in the back of his throat since she had started. 'Seven water balloons don't do much damage on a whole village.' he added, shrugging half heartedly. She smiled to herself again as the balloon grew even bigger, it was the biggest yet and she was clearly relishing the sense of mischievous power it gave off.

'Oh, it's not for the village.' she murmured wickedly, before unplugging the rubber nozzle from the tap and tying a tight knot in it. She placed it carefully with the others and sat back on her feet, looking up at him with an impishly evil look on her pretty face. 'Have you ever wondered what your sensei looks like without a mask?' she asked roguishly, raising an eyebrow as she did so. Sasuke smiled maliciously; he knew what she was thinking, he also knew that she would fail miserably to get a look at his face, just as team seven had done, but he didn't say anything.

'_Let's see what lengths she will go to just to get a glimpse of Kakashi's face beneath the mask.'_ he thought to himself, relishing the idea of either seeing his face and being able to boast to the others, or have a bit of fun in the process. 'Naruto reckons he's got fat lips.' he told her, watching as her eyes widened at the thought. 'Sakura thinks he's got buck teeth.' he added, watching the effect it had on the girl and chuckling to himself at her expression.

'Maybe he has kissy lips.' she whispered, here deep hazel eyes still wide at the many mental images she had in her dirty little mind at that moment. 'Anyway, we'll know by this evening.' she stated confidently.

'What do you have in mind?' he asked, raising his own eyebrow down at her as she smiled maliciously back up at him.

…

Kakashi walked along slowly, reading Icha-Icha paradise as usual. He had just gotten to a really good part when he heard a faint trickling behind him. He turned around with a vaguely curious look on (what we can see of) his face and scrutinized the empty street behind him; he saw a small ginger cat playing with an anti-stress ball and turned around with a smile.

'He'll get what's coming to him.' he muttered quietly., still smiling to himself before he heard a soft popping noise and the ginger cat dashed past him, leaving behind it a trail of damp footprints and drips. Kakashi laughed to himself as his eyes began to water at the memory of the cat scuttling past him at top speed, thinking no more about the bridge he was about to walk under. He wiped his eye delicately as he walking under the shadow of the concrete overpass, going over the scene again in his mind.

As he came out the other side he found himself completely soaked from head to toe and suddenly realised how the cat must have felt.

'I feel for you, cat.' he said under his breath as he held out his book, hoping he hadn't gotten it wet. He shook his arms heavily, trying to force a bit of the water to seep out quicker, and looked up; he could hear giggling and sniggering from on top of the bridge he hadn't paid any attention to. 'I wonder…' he started, glaring up at the concrete structure above him.

He leapt up (**you know… the way they do in the TV show!**) and landed on the road above him, staring at Mika and Sasuke who were sniggering uncontrollably at his misfortune, which he didn't doubt they had brought on. When they noticed he was there, they both jumped up and pressed their backs against the wall behind them which was there to prevent people falling off, and stared at him silently with nervous expressions.

'HE DID IT!!!' cried Mika, pointing at Sasuke with a huge grin on her face, making the boy in question jump out of his skin and glance from her to Kakashi nervously. She gave him one last encouraging smile before she too leapt off and disappeared (**as they do**), leaving the two males staring at each other for a moment before Sasuke followed. Kakashi sighed to himself in exasperation.

'What have I let myself in for?' he asked himself, looking off in the direction they had both left hastily in. 'Sasuke has never been like this with the others.' he added. His face fell as he remembered the last time he had watched Sasuke trouble making, with his young accomplice. 'They were inseparable.' he said to himself, remembering sadly.

…

The white haired man shuffled benignly along the crowded street, born down by a large brown bag of what looked like regular groceries. He glanced over to his left as he meandered past a book store, to see if they had the new instalment of Icha-Icha paradise which he so craved, but the new one still hadn't come out, so he walked on by.

He sniffed softly. That water balloon had given him the sniffles, making him glare to himself. He had to hand it to them, they were sneaky but they had obviously found something better to do because he hadn't seen them for several hours. He glanced down into his bag of bought things and made sure he had everything, and indeed something was missing.

'Damn it.' he muttered, looking over his shoulder and seeing the culprit: a packet of noodles. 'You had to go and fall off, didn't you.' he muttered menacingly under his breath. He walked back over to where it was lying on the ground and lowered himself slowly down, not wanting to have to put his groceries down.

Suddenly he looked up and there was another water balloon heading straight for him at break neck speed, without thinking he used the replacement jutsu, but forgot about his groceries, leaving them to get soaked by the balloon. He looked around frantically, trying desperately to find the culprit, but there was no tell-tale sniggering or giggling, making Kakashi very nervous. Suddenly there was another one, coming at him from behind; he dodged, but yet another was aimed at him in that position. They were coming thick and fast, and sooner or later he knew he was going to get-

SPLASH!!!!! Kakashi peeled the broken piece of rubber off of his face moodily, glaring at Sasuke and Mika who were rolling around on the floor, gasping for breath as they laughed so hard they clutched at their stomachs.

'Very clever.' he said sarcastically, making his way over to the two pre-teens who were still rolling around on the ground. 'I think you owe me an apolo-' but before he could finish they had both disappeared in two small puffs of smoke. He growled to himself as he picked up his soaking groceries and continued walking, noticing the ginger cat from earlier watching him smugly.

…

Sasuke grinned as he watched Mika showing him how to make flour bomb. She carefully poured the white substance into the colourful balloon, concentrating hard so as not to loose too much flour. He hadn't smiled this much in so long, he couldn't even remember; he looked around a little uncertainly, hoping noone was watching.

'Hey Sasuke! Mika!' came Naruto's voice behind him. He turned around sharply, his usual scowl in place as his friend walked quickly over. 'What you two up to?' he asked, noticing Mika's flour covered face: she had jumped when he had called out to them. 'That could be disturbing.' added the blond boy under his breath his eyes widening at Mika who was just wiping the white powder off her lips with the back of her gloved hand.

'We're trying to see what's under Kakashi-sensei's mask.' said Mika, answering his question before Sasuke could say anything about Naruto's remark. 'You want in?' she asked, smiling up at him.

'With flour bombs?' he asked sceptically raising an unconvinced eyebrow. Mika nodded enthusiastically. 'You haven't really thought this through, have you? We already tried getting him to show us his face.' he added, scratching his upper left arm.

'Well, that's news to me.' muttered Mika moodily, looking back down at her newly made bomb miserably. She sighed unhappily as her bright idea came crashing down around her, before quickly coming back to herself. 'Either way it's fun, right?' she said, looking back up at Naruto and Sasuke (who was glaring at his team-mate menacingly) expectantly.

'Sure! I'm in then!' answered Naruto, kneeling down beside her and pulling an empty balloon towards him before proceeding to pour copious amounts of flour into it.

Sasuke watched as Mika gazed at the blond boy quietly, a small smile defining her perfect lips which were a faint shade of red, her lovely deep hazel eyes which he knew he could have got lost in within seconds, her smooth cheeks which he remembered so clearly. He felt a surge of jealously as Mika took Naruto's hand and showed him how to pour the white substance into the balloon without spilling it, Naruto already had flour all down his front and they giggled together as even more got spilt on his knees.

'Sasuke, you wanna help?' asked Mika who was smiling up at him, obviously having noticed his moody face. 'Hello? Earth to Sasuke!' she laughed a little, a friendly laugh which quietly let him know that he wasn't being laughed at, that it was friendly. She handed him a blue balloon and a half empty packet of flour as he let himself sink to his knees opposite her and Naruto, taking the balloon and the flour and getting to work.

…

Kakashi sat in the bar in a new and dry outfit, moodily wondering whether that was it for the day… it was six o'clock after all. He prodded his drink with a toothpick, wondering vaguely why he had bought it since he had had all the liquid he needed for today.

'_Damn kids.' _he thought darkly, closing his eyes in frustration. _'What do they want from me? I'm sure it's that Mika, she's a bad influence.'_ he paid for his untouched drink and left silently. He walked down the crowded market place, deep in thought not noticing Naruto walking past him and waving in a friendly way. _'Why are they taking it out on me? What did I ever do to them? Why do they keep getting me? Am I getting slow?'_ As soon as that thought had gone through his mind he was hit in the back of the head by something, not water, something harder yet it fell apart on contact with the back of his head.

He whipped around and there were Mika, Sasuke and Naruto all throwing balloons up in the air and catching them as they fell, with one hand and malicious looks on their juvenile faces. He frowned at them , hoping to scare them into giving up and going home, but they stood their ground and before he knew it, Naruto had thrown a second balloon which Kakashi split with a shuriken as it went past him, releasing the white powder all over his face.

'_Damn it!'_ he screamed at himself internally, rubbing the flour out of his furious eyes. The jonin looked around for them frantically, but they had disappeared. _'Shit…'_ He glanced around him, trying to ignore the strange looks from the by-passers, but he still couldn't see them anywhere. _'They're around here somewhere. They won't have run off with at least two unused flour bombs.'_ he thought to himself, still searching for them.

Out of nowhere three flour bombs were heading towards him at break neck speed, making him duck and leap out of the way, only to land a few yards away and find a bomb exploding just inches away from his feet. He sprang to the side, hoping to lose them with speed, but the bomb kept on exploding too close for comfort. One hit him on the inner right thigh, as he tried to dodge it, making him laugh out loud at their good aim… but it was a mistake: another bomb hit him squarely in the back as he looked around, trying to see the guilty parties. He fell forwards to his knees and laughed to himself, proud that his students were such good shots, and before he knew it they were all standing in front of him, arms crossed and huge proud yet sheepish grins on their flour-covered faces.

'_That was pretty close.'_ he thought to himself, inspecting the flour on his inner thigh, painfully close to his crotch. _'That could have REALLY hurt.'_

'Do you give in yet?' asked Mika panting slightly, but a proud look on her dirty face. Kakashi laughed incredulously, as he sat back on his feet, looking up at them.

'Give in to what?' he asked, a laugh in his voice, as he tried to rub the flour off of the inside of his trouser leg. 'Who threw this one?' he asked, pointing at his inner thigh. He noticed the girl blush slightly and twitch her head a little. 'You were aiming pretty naughtily, weren't you?'

'We couldn't see exactly where our different bombs went.' Naruto said shrugging, the large grin on his face becoming even larger. 'There were so many.' he added, closing his eyes proudly. Kakashi looked around, and noticed just how much mess they had made in the meantime: the whole street, including several old biddies, were covered in flour and all glaring over at them.

'You will clean all this up.' he told them, standing up and towering over them menacingly. But they still glared at him. 'That wasn't a suggestion.' he added, seeing their rebellious faces.

'HE DID IT!!!' cried Sasuke and Mika in unison, both pointing at Naruto who stood there with a look of horror on his face, before them both disappeared, Mika leaving an encouraging smile and a flirty wink.

**Thanks to all the nice people who reviewed! And I can now tell you that my friend XxLennexX has put her side of the fanfic up! Or the beginnings, anyway!!! Check it out if you're interested in who Emiko is and what Kakashi was doing knowing about Mika! It's called "forever isn't long enough" and as I said a bit earlier, the author is XxLennexX**


	12. innocent angel 6

_The two young friends ran as fast as their nearly seven year old legs could carry them, through the woods, across the soft ground, heading towards what seemed like a promised land to their young minds. The dark eyed boy pulled the brown eyed girl behind him, knowing that she wasn't as fast as he was, but he didn't mind helping her keep up._

'_Hurry up, slow coach!' he cried as they approached their targeted destination, he knew that she was too out of breath to answer but he didn't mind because he knew what she would have said. 'Nearly there now Piggy!'_

'_Shut up.' she whispered on a panting out-breath. The boy laughed at her touchy voice as he tugged at her hand, feeling the glove give way slightly, but just holding on tighter and feeling her hand squeeze his slightly. They slowed at the sight of the maroon coloured slime ball… things and the boy let Mika catch her breath: she had never much liked running._

_It had been nearly ten months since they had been here last, but they had always told themselves that they'd come back; it was just too good a thing to ignore, despite what had happened last time. The young boy had been yearning to come back here since a couple of days after the incident in question, but they had never got round to it, instead finding that they had full schedules to keep up… mostly running around wreaking havoc all over the village, every now and then finding that it had already been wreaked by some unknown and unimportant trouble maker._

'_I'm not a piggy.' she said defiantly when her small chest had stopped heaving uncontrollably, her pretty face damp with sweat but a mischievous smile defining her lips. 'You know I don't like that name.' she added, standing up straight and rubbing her nose on the back of her hand._

'_That's the only reason I use it.' answered the boy deviously, smiling down at her maliciously. She gave a sort of laugh on the out breath, still smiling up at him with his own look mirrored on her face. 'You said yourself that you don't like your name.'_

'_Did I?' she asked, her smile disappearing and being replaced by a look of surprised curiosity. 'That must have been forever ago, because… I really don't remember that!' she continued, her smile sneaking it's way back onto her even features. 'Did you happen to mention whether you like yours?' she asked, taking on a posh voice and a sneaky looking expression behind the endearing smile. The boy shook his head without a word a grin encroaching on his face. 'Well, do you?' asked the girl with the plum coloured hair curiously._

'_Umm… I guess it's better than Itachi.' he said after a moment of thought, wincing with the effort of thought and making the girl giggle. 'But I wouldn't have chosen it for myself.' he finished, shrugging uninterestedly, starting to head slowly towards the mollusc like things which promised such fun ahead of them._

'_Well, shall we make up nicknames for each other?' asked Mika enthusiastically, walking beside him and watching him hopefully. 'I can call you Blue, and you can call me… umm…' she looked away, frowning deep in thought._

'_Purple?' he suggested, looking over at her quietly. 'Plum?' he continued shrugging vaguely._

'_Are you crazy?' she asked whipping around to stare at him incredulously. 'Those are both dumb names… Blue is so much cooler.'_

'_Sorry, that's all I got right now.' he answered smiling at her expression. 'Plum is cool.' he said shrugging and putting his hands on the maroon thing they had just reached. Mika made an over incredulous face at him, with one eye half open and the other wide, making the newly named Blue laugh. 'How about… violet?' he asked tentatively._

'_You are so smart!!!' she squealed as he helped her up, beaming up at him ecstatically. 'So you can call me Violet, okay?' she told him, brushing some of the strange slimy substance which oozed silently out of the thing they were now kneeling on._

'_I prefer Mika.' he answered unwillingly, wincing at the thought of her reaction. 'Violet doesn't sound much like you.' he added, hoping to soften the blow._

'_You had to be difficult, didn't you?' she replied, sighing exasperatedly. She looked away for a moment, the boy knowing that she was disappointed, but she was trying to hide it. 'It's okay. You can call me Mika.' she finished, smiling at him indulgently which he returned._

'_But I'm Blue, right?' he asked, standing up and helping her to stand beside him, clutching his sleeves for support. She smiled at him uncertainly as she wobbled ominously, but he got the picture that she was okay with it all._

_He led her further into the field of squashy red cushions, holding her hand tight as she clung to him for security. He suddenly turned and started bouncing up and down, grinning at his little friend sheepishly. He let himself be bounced higher and higher, as though he was on a trampoline with a huge grin on his slightly uncertain face, trying to persuade her to join him. She laughed nervously, gingerly starting to bounce herself a little, her eyes glancing anxiously from her feet to the newly named Blue and back again as she got higher and higher, and more and more confidence._

_Soon she was bouncing nearly as high as her best friend, grinning just as wide as he was, the twinkle in their eyes shining brightly at each other in childish excitement. Their loud giggles echoed around the clearing as they both landed one after the other, Mika making her way closer to her best friend with a mischievous look in her deep hazel eyes._

_Blue watched her as she encroached lightly onto his mollusc, bouncing in different rhythms, her eyes shining in delight and mischief the same look mirrored in his own deep blue eyes. They giggled at each other as the girl with the deep puce coloured hair caught up with the boy with the black hair, before she was finally at the same level as him, both laughing hard at each others faces._

_Suddenly, Mika threw her young arms around the boys waist, pulling him into a friendly embrace and making him look down at her wide-eyed in surprise and terror as they fell in slow motion back towards the ground. As the time slowed right down, they fell towards the dark red squishy thing below them, Mika's face comfortably content with being pressed against her best friends chest, the boys face worried about the fall as they tumbled in slow motion, leaning further and further onto the side falling horizontally with the girl below Blue._

_They landed smoothly on the maroon coloured thing, Blue lying on top of Mika with a small smile on his face as they bounced up again, Mika lifting her face up to look him in the eyes. As they came back down again, their faces were bumped together, not painfully but it was enough to make them both separate quickly, moving swiftly away from each other awkwardly. The girl shuffled hastily out from underneath her friend, the boy sitting up and smiling awkwardly at her._

'_Umm… sorry…' he said quietly, shrugging uncomfortably at her sort of half heartedly. She tried to smile, but it looked more like a painful wince._

'_Uhh…' she could feel herself burning bright red and knew that he would be too, but she decided that it was best not to look up at him just yet. 'Umm… shall we go home?' she asked, brushing her hair out of her eyes._

'_Good idea.' she heard him say as she got up tentatively, but before she knew it she had slipped and was falling forwards with an empty space between two molluscs looming in front of her. Suddenly, out of nowhere, there he was. Blue's arms were there to catch her, keep her from falling into the five foot abyss._

'_Are you okay?' he asked as she clutched onto his t-shirt for dear life, here eyes wide in terror at what could have happened (__**it doesn't seem like a lot, but to a kid, five feet is huge!**__). She smiled nervously up at him as he helped her get stable on the unstable maroon thing. 'That could have been messy. I got so told off last time, I think mother would have killed me if I did it again!' exclaimed Blue with a laugh._

_Neither of them said anything, but it was almost painfully obvious that they were both really relieved that nothing had changed between them. It had been an accident that would never be repeated and never mentioned to anyone… especially not each other, despite the fact that both had found it strangely nice._


	13. forsaken angel 7

**I can't remember whether Mika has been given a hidden leaf village headband yet, so we're going to pretend she doesn't… okay? I don't think she has… but just to make sure, I'm apologizing now!**

Sakura yawned as she and the rest of team seven hung around outside the Hokage's office, waiting for Mika to come out. They could hear voices from the inside as the elderly leader of the Hidden Leaf Village spoke quietly to the young girl of her options, her pledge and her responsibilities.

'They sure are taking a long time, huh?' said Naruto, clearly bored out of his brains, but the others ignored him as they usually tended to do. 'Why is it taking this long? Surely Old Man Hokage can't be uncertain of letting her into the Village… she's so nice!'

'Hands off Naruto.' said Sasuke menacingly, scowling over at him from the other side of Kakashi. 'She may not remember it, but she's mine.' he finished protectively, trying to threaten the blond hyper active boy into submission.

'Hey that's no fair!' he cried out in anger. 'She doesn't remember you, she's fair game!' he shouted, getting more and more competitive. Both boys glared daggers at each other, trying to intimidate each other without using violence, knowing that the Hokage could come out at any moment.

'Now boys,' started Kakashi, feeling the painfully obvious tension between the three adolescents and trying to ease it a little. 'she's not a possession, you know? You can't just talk about someone like she belongs to you. I thought you knew that.' he added, going back to his book. 'She seems to have taken a liking to you Sasuke.' he finished quietly.

'Well duh,' answered the rebellious boy defiantly. 'we were made for each other. It's fate. We're meant to be together.' he finished folding his arms and looking away from the jonin who rolled his dark eyes. (**or the one that we can see, anyway!**)

'What's so special about her anyway?' asked Sakura, folding her arms and brooding moodily on the edge of the bench. (inner Sakura: Cha!!! She's not even pretty! Plus I'm sure she copied on my hair colour!)

'Well if you were to take the time and get to know her instead of being a total bitch to her, maybe you'd understand.' growled Sasuke frostily, his eyes narrowed as he looked past Kakashi and Naruto hoping she could feel his cold stare. Sakura glanced over her shoulder, her eyes watering.

'So, she's the same age as you?' asked the jonin curiously, gazing over at his dark haired student. Sasuke nodded, his face defiant despite the lack of reason to be so. '_He's so protective over her. Or maybe he's just possessive. Either way, it's not like him at all._' he thought, still gazing at the boy in question. 'She's better developed than you lot, isn't she? She's grown up very fast.' he continued, looking back down at Icha-Icha paradise quietly.

'What's that supposed to mean?' asked Sasuke icily, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. Kakashi could feel the weight of the teenager's mistrust on the side of his face, and glanced at him uninterestedly, taking in what he was likely to do.

'It's supposed to mean that she is very well endowed.' he answered shortly, having worked out exactly how Sasuke would reciprocate and ready to counter it in an instant.

As he had predicted, Sasuke ripped a kunai knife from his holster and tried to stab the jonin in the neck with it, while crying out in fury at him. Kakashi snapped his hand up, grabbed the young mans and managed to turn him around into a half nelson with the knife jabbing gently into the back of his neck, in the same ironic position he had forced Naruto into on their first day. But Sasuke kicked out with his leg, dangerously close to where Mika's flour bomb had got him, making the jonin jump out of the way and release his hold on him. They stood in the large hallway glaring at each other, Sasuke's eyes full of hate, Kakashi's eyes relatively empty of most strong emotions.

'Sasuke,' he said calmly, still watching the talented genin closely. 'she's fourteen years younger than me. Plus she's my student. I couldn't touch her even if I wanted to.' he explained steadily, trying to calm the protective boy down. The dark eyed boy continued to glower at him as though he would have liked nothing more than to have seen him in agony, but the sensei just smiled serenely. 'Trust me.'

The young boy continued to stare at his sensei for a moment longer, before standing up straight again and putting his kunai knife back in it's holster where it belonged. Kakashi sat back down on the hard bench beside Sakura, who's bright green eyes were wide with fright, and smiled reassuringly. Naruto's stomach growled ominously.

'Why are they taking so long?' he asked as he clutched his tummy, trying to silence himself and failing miserably. 'All he's doing is telling her not to betray the village, right?' nobody answered him; Kakashi was back into his book, Sakura was too busy watching Sasuke who in turn was brooding sullenly, all too busy to care much what the hyper active young ninja had to say.

After twenty more minutes of waiting, the door finally opened and out came a tired looking girl with a proud look on her face. In her right hand she was clutching a shining new forehead protector, in her left a small scroll and a huge grin on her face. Suddenly, Naruto noticed a small detail which he hadn't taken in earlier.

'Hey wait a second!' he exclaimed, making the girl's smile disappear and a nervous expression replace it. 'How come you've got a black forehead protector?' he asked, pointing at the object in question.

'Umm… because I'm not a Genin?' she said a little awkwardly, shrugging and wincing slightly. 'I passed the Chuunin exam a while ago.' she added glancing from one curious face to the other and then the next one. 'Why? Are you guys still Genin?' she asked, surprised. But before anyone could answer, Kakashi cut in.

'Where are you staying?' he asked, stepping in front of the hyper active blond boy, averting a possible conflict. The girl looked down at the ground, thinking and then looked back up at the jonin who was to be her new sensei for a while.

'Do you know any cheap hotels?' she asked apologetically, wincing awkwardly. 'And I mean really cheap… I kinda don't have any money…' she explained ruefully 'you know… being found out in the woods and all… I didn't wanna ask Miyuki for any more money after she looked after me for all those years.' she finished, clearly feeling very uncomfortable.

'You can stay with me!' exclaimed Sasuke, his face lighting up with the prospect of having her with him for the whole night, but Kakashi was reluctant.

'She can stay with me.' he said forcefully, gazing down at the dark eyed boy meaningfully. '_I don't want them together at night… who knows what they could get up to._' he thought quietly. 'I have a spare room which is up and running, you can stay in there.' he continued turning to look at Mika. She smiled up at him gratefully while Kakashi noticed Sasuke's intimidating glare frizzle almost electrically at him. '_Who knows what kinds of mischief they could cause._'

'Thank you Kakashi sensei.' she said, still smiling sweetly at him making it hard to believe that she could be such a troublemaker.


	14. innocent angel 7

'_Niisan!!!' cried out the four year old girl in frustration. 'Please!!! Please let me try it!' she bounced up on her tiptoes, but the older boy held the forehead protector just out of reach._

'_You're too little to try this, Imouto.' he said calmly, a malicious smile on his handsome face, his dark hair falling elegantly down his forehead and into his deep blue eyes. 'When you get through the academy, then you'll get your own.'_

'_But I want to try it on now!!!' she whimpered piteously, still reaching for the precious piece of material with the treasured slice of shiny metal. 'Okaasan… tell Yama to give me his headband.' she whined over her shoulder at her mother who was in the kitchen._

'_Now, now Mika.' came Hochiko's smooth, friendly voice as she came through from the kitchen wiping a newly cleaned plate with a cloth. 'Your brother worked very hard for that. When you get one, you won't want to give it to anyone either.' The little girl gasped incredulously, a look of disbelief on her young face._

'_But you're never going to get one.' taunted the eleven year old boy, tying the blue forehead protector up behind his neck proudly. 'Because you're my girly little sister.' The little four year old girl turned to glower at her older brother as menacingly as she could._

'_I will become a ninja.' she declared defiantly, putting her hands on her hips. 'And I'll be a better ninja than you ever will be.' she added before sticking her tongue out at him._

_In the background, Hochiko chuckled proudly at her two children before turning back into the kitchen where her adoring husband was listening and smiling just as proudly as she was._


	15. forsaken angel 8

**I forgot to mention in the last chapter that Niisan means older brother, Imouto means little sister, and Okaasan means mother. Sorry I forgot to say so in the last chapter.**

Kakashi woke up quite suddenly when he heard a strange quiet noise. He sat up slowly, rubbing his sleepy eyes, wondering what the hell it was. He looked over at the clock and saw that it was nearly half past one in the morning, cursing the thing who woke him… he had been dreaming about Icha-Icha paradise, but he was awoken before anything decent had happened.

He listened a little harder and came to realise that the small rhythmic sound was coming from his spare bedroom. He reached over and stiffly grabbed his mask, putting it on laboriously and swinging his legs over the side of the bed, leaning on them for a moment before standing up slowly, regretting it immensely, but made his way to the doorway.

As he got closer he became conscious of what the noise was. It was the unmistakeable sound of quiet, badly stifled, young confused thirteen year old girl's tears. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and trying to pull his pyjama bottoms up a little over his naked chest, but to no avail since the elastic had given way years ago. He peered around the open doorway into his spare room and there she was: Mika Tikaake, crying into the pillow Kakashi had said she could sleep on, curled up on the floor on the other side of the bed, rocking herself back and forth miserably.

He pushed the door a little further open and stood in it, watching the small girl as she swayed herself unhappily. He remembered the last time he had seen her this way. It seemed a lifetime away that he had watched the seven year old girl who had bumped into her best friend and fallen over. It pulled at his heartstrings to think of what his life had been like at that time, and how much it had changed… all in one night.

But there she was. Trying to silence the tears streaming down her flushed cheeks, hardly visible in the moonlight, rocking herself gently and hiding her face in the down filled pillow. Suddenly she became conscious that he was there, watching her silently as she sobbed quietly, her eyes all puffy and red.

'I'm scared…' she whimpered piteously, the tears still streaming out of her deep brown eyes. 'I miss Miyuki…' she added in a desperate sob as the twenty six year old made his way around the bed to stand above her. He lowered himself to her level, sitting down on his feet, he put his strong arms around her small frame and pulled her into a tight, fatherly hug. He felt her small arms wrap themselves around his waist, making his skin tingle deliciously… in a fatherly way… and her press her small, damp face into the crook of his neck.

'Come here.' he whispered, stroking her back comfortingly. He felt her shift her legs to face him completely, still quietly letting tears seep out of her eyes and down her cheeks. He gently put his arms around her and effortlessly picked her up, feeling her clutch at his neck for dear life, and smiling at her fear.

'What are you doing?' she whimpered piteously, fear and wretchedness as she clung to his smooth skin as he began to move out of the room and into the kitchen. He put her down gently onto one of the deep blue cushions placed on all four sides of his small kitchen table, before busying himself getting her a cup of warm cocoa and a tissue.

After a few minutes of sitting in companionable silence, sipping their mugs of cocoa, Mika finally broke the comfortable silence with a very shaky and subdued voice.

'What's wrong with your eye?' she sniffled, rubbing her nose with the back of her sleeve, reminding him of something but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. 'Your left one.' she added, thinking that he may not have understood.

'It was a gift.' he explained quietly, watching her over the brim of his brightly coloured mug. 'By a very good friend of mine. It has the Sharingan.' he took a deep breath, ready to explain to her what it was after having seen her blank face. 'It's a gift that very few people have, mainly the Uchihas, but as I said it was given to me by a very good friend.'

'So, does Sasuke have it?' asked the girl, her eyes slowly un-puffing and her nose progressively stopping sniffling. 'He's an Uchiha, right? Why did you say "Uchihas"? I thought he was the last one-… oh no, his brother..' she corrected herself quickly. 'So what does it do.'

'Yes, Sasuke has it.' answered Kakashi, putting his empty mug back down on the table in front of him. 'It enables the user to see what their opponent's next move before they have even decided it and copy it perfectly, even after the battle is over. It's a very useful talent to have because you can… how can I say this?' he looked away, his forehead creased slightly in thought as Mika continued to watch him, enthralled in the wisdom the jonin was imparting on her. 'steal I think is the best word for here. Yes. It means you can steal your adversary's techniques and use them for your own means.'

'Woah…' came the girl's impressed reaction as she took in the full extent of the power her new best friend had at the tips of his fingertips… well, eyes. She yawned deeply and the twenty six year old man smiled underneath his mask.

'Time for bed.' he said standing up and reaching over to pick up her empty mug, turning back around to put both into the sink which was already full of dirty plates and cutlery. Mika stood up and stood where she was for a moment, looking helpless and lost.

'Umm… Kakashi-sensei?' she started, almost so quietly the older man didn't hear. He looked over his shoulder at her as he tried to fit the mugs into his sink, making a small moaning noise letting her know that he was listening. 'I… err…' she mumbled a few incoherent things before the man worked out what she was on about.

'Would you like to sleep with me?' he asked with his fists on his hips and an understanding look on his handsome face, his fatherly instinct kicking in painfully. The girl looked up again with an apologetic yet grateful look in her yet again teary brown eyes.

He smiled kindly at her, remembering her when she was little. Her happy little face as he watched her running around with her little friend, her friendly laugh when she was discovered with her best friend sneakily spying on various people… including him. He led the way back into his room, feeling slightly awkward that he was leading a thirteen year old to his bed… especially since she was his new student.

When they got into the square room, it's deep blue walls with various ornamental Japanese pictures and paintings. He discreetly pulled down the picture he had torn out of some previous Icha-Icha paradise magazine which he had pinned up to the wall. He noticed the girl smiling over at him pleasantly, as though she knew what he had just done.

'Well… umm…' he said quietly, feeling intensely awkward that he was inviting such a young girl into his bed. Before he could finish, Mika had crawled into the bed and was sitting there with the cover up over the lower part of her face, and the visible part had a benign smile perceptible on it. He slowly got in and shuffled down in, getting comfortable in his own bed with the young girl who was watching him sweetly from under the cover.

Kakashi smiled at her kindly, feeling the paternal instinct kick in powerfully while her tear stricken face continued to smile over at him. He felt compelled to look after her, just as the father she had lost would have, and the same way he would have done with the child he was so close to having, but was denied only months after he had become aware of it's existence. He watched her close her deep brown eyes comfortably as she settled down to go to sleep, and let his own eyelids droop and close, rolling over onto his other side and thumping his pillow into a more secure position.

Suddenly he felt her move closer and felt her small frame press against his back, her small hands pressed in between both their bodies. He was surprised to find that it was strangely reassuring to have the small figure pressed against his back, the rhythmic movement of her breathing gradually lulling him into a very deep and comfortable sleep.


	16. innocent angel 8

_Mika ran as fast as she could, screaming at the top of her tiny three year old lungs, hoping that that might put off her pursuer. Yama chased her around the dusty courtyard between all the houses which made up the small Tikaake hamlet, bent over double with his hands held out in a half-hearted attempt to catch his sister who was seven years his junior._

'_Yama darling,' came his mother's voice from the front door of their family home, a large round bowl in one hand, a wooden spoon in the other and an anxious look on her beautiful face. 'be careful with your little sister, won't you?'_

'_Leave them be, Hochiko.' came Chokichi's voice from behind her. She looked over her shoulder and saw her husband coming out with a bag in his hand, looking out of the door at his ten year old son. 'Besides, the Uchihas will be here any minute so she'll be entertained and I'm going to go and work on Yama's aim.' he held up the bag and jingled it happily as the young boy stopped chasing his sister._

'_Isn't the eldest son coming?' asked the woman curiously, stirring the contents of her bowl absent-mindedly. 'And I'd rather you were here when they arrived.' Chokichi snapped his head around to look at his wife in dismay. 'Can't you train with him another day?' Yama decided that chasing his sister was a lot more interesting than this conversation._

'_But Koishii,' he pleaded, making him painfully resemble his ten year old son. 'we always train on Sundays… it makes sure he's in tip top form for Monday at the academy.'_

'_Oh please, Omaesan.' she implored, trying to make her face as piteous as she could. 'The husband scares me… please don't leave me.' she finished, knowing perfectly well that she had convinced him. Yama noticed from his very slow chase that his parents were moving closer together, their lips ominously close to each others. The ten year old rolled his eyes exasperatedly as he heard the sound of footsteps, foretelling that their guests had arrived._

_Suddenly Mika was on the edge of the small yet yawning pond in the middle of the courtyard, dangerously close to falling in. Before anyone could get to her, she had slipped on one of the protruding bits of deep green algae on the damp rocks surrounding it._

_There was a collective intake of breath as she tumbled backwards, aimed directly at the deep fishpond where several, large fish were swimming, completely oblivious to the fact that the little girl was in imminent danger._

_But as the guests came around the corner of the large wooden gate, a thick root-like piece of vegetation shot out of the ground, just where her feet had been, and managed to wrap itself around the small freefalling body and prevent the near misfortune._

_The Uchihas stood in the gate their eyes wide in surprise and awe as their eyes moved slowly from the three year old girl giggling sweetly as the root grasped her securely by the waist, to Hochiko who's hand was outstretched in a grasping position towards the girl and a surprised look on her pretty face._

_The large bowl lay smashed and forgotten on the ground at her feet._

**Okay... umm this is the second time I've uploaded this because the first time it was missing a bit, and I've forgotten what I wrote here... umm... oh yeah! There are I think two words in japanese... I can't remember which ones (what does this tell us about my memory children?) either way, both mean "dearest" or "darling" or something of the sort... you get the picture... R&R please!!!**


	17. forsaken angel 9

The next morning, Mika and Sasuke were meandering along the market way chatting and every now and then having a look at the scrawny and cheap objects on sale. From behind the counters salespeople called out, trying to make a meagre sale to the two young people… but in vain. Sasuke glowered at the salesman who had attempted to make a pass at a newly blushing Mika as they swiftly walked away.

'Asshole.' he mumbled under his breath as they both turned off in the direction of the park. Mika smiled at him sideways, through her awkward blush, but it was obvious that she was grateful. 'I'll get him- I'll hurt him-'

'Sasuke, it's okay.' she comforted him quietly, her small smile still etched gently on her friendly lips. 'It's not the first time… it's just that… umm… I'm not very good at dealing with it.' she finished awkwardly, shrugging as they pushed the gate to the children's park and passing through it.

'Hey Sasuke! Mika!' came a familiar, friendly cry. The teenaged couple looked up and saw, among others, Naruto sitting on a swing moving back and forth rhythmically with a huge grin on his face and his hand in the air in a welcoming wave.

'Let's get out of here before they catch us.' mumbled the dark haired boy under his breath as he tried to turn back, but the girl grabbed hold of his upper arm. When he looked up, he saw a reassuring smile on her pretty face and immediately knew what she wanted.

She looked back over at the boys on the swings with a friendly smile and waved back at Naruto. As they made their way over to the boys (Sasuke slightly on the unwilling side), Mika had time to take them all in. There was Naruto, sitting on one of the two swings with one arm lazily entwined with the cord holding him up and the other still waving enthusiastically at her; then there was a brown haired boy with a pony-tail and a bored look on his face, his cropped jacket barely covering his fishnet shirt beneath it and his hands in his pockets; beside him, sitting on the floor, was a slightly bigger built boy who was greedily tucking into a packet of potato chips, his head band reminding Mika painfully of a pair of knickers on his head; then sitting on the other swing was the last boy, sporting two purple lines leading from his eyes down his cheeks and wearing a fur covered parka. Mika also noticed the very small dog sprawled over the top of the last boys head, looking very comfortable as the whole group watched her and Sasuke's progress towards them.

When they got to the swings, Naruto stood up and motioned for Mika to take his place on the swing he had just dismounted in a very gentleman-like gesture. The girl with the plum coloured hair blushed again (dammit, just after she'd got over the last time!) and sat down obligingly, smiling up at the blond boy with the strange markings on his face.

'Thanks.' she said quietly, feeling the looks of all the guys on her, judging her as though she was a poodle on display at some stuck up dog show. 'Ummm… so Uhh… how are you this morning?' she asked, trying to break the awkward silence which was beginning to encroach on them.

'Oh, yeah!' exclaimed Naruto, as though he had forgotten something. Sasuke sighed exasperatedly, and rolled his steely blue eyes to the sky and then fixed them back on Mika with a look that said "this was your idea". 'This is Shikamaru Nara.' started Naruto, putting his arm around the shoulders of the boy with the pony-tail. The boy in question didn't break a smile, but just gazed at Mika as though he would rather be anywhere else in the world but here. 'This is Kiba Inuzuka and Akamaru.' continued Naruto happily, indicating the other boy on the swings and the dog on his head. This boy did smile, but Mika could have sworn she saw fangs protruding from beneath his upper lip. 'And that is Choji Akimichi.' finished Naruto, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder at the boy who was still munching away at his chips. He tried to say something, but every time he opened his mouth a load of crisps came flying out, so he decided against the friendly "hello".

'Umm… I'm Mika Tikaake.' answered the shy girl, trying to smile in a friendly way, but it turned into a sort of uncomfortable grimace. 'I err… I just got here yesterday and umm…' suddenly she got another flash thing… she was running away from someone, but it was a game… probably catch… and she was running through this park, she ran past the swings where she noticed two boys swinging beside each other… she recognised them to be Shikamaru and Choji.

'Uhh… Mika, was it?' came an unfamiliar voice, snapping the girl back into reality where she found she was staring wide eyed and open mouthed at the sky just above Naruto's right shoulder. She noticed that both he, Sasuke and Shikamaru were all watching her with nervous looks. 'Are you okay?' asked the boy she knew to be called Shikamaru.

'Umm… I just got a flashback… thingy…' she told them, so quietly she was surprised they actually heard her. 'I err… I kinda lost my memory so Uhh… this is all really new to me… even though I was born here and grew up here…'

'Memory loss, huh?' repeated Shikamaru with one hand in his pocket and the other scratching the back of his neck. 'What a drag.' he finished, closing his eyes and looking vaguely in the direction of Mika's feet.

'You have no idea.' answered the girl with a dark look. Naruto smiled understandingly at her, Shikamaru looked up with the hint of a bored smile and Choji stopped munching for a moment to actually look at her. (OMG!!!)

'So… if you grew up here…' started Kiba with a puzzled frown. 'How come we haven't seen you around?' he asked, looking straight at her.

'Well, actually you did see me… but a long time ago.' she told them all. 'That was kinda in my flashback thing. I remembered running through this park and seeing you' she pointed at Shikamaru, 'and him' she made a strange hand movement in the direction of Choji, 'sitting here… well, on the swings watching me run past.' she told them.

'Yeah, but I never forget a pretty face… so that must have been AGES ago.' said Choji, finally looking up at her. Mika blushed when she thought that he was paying attention to her… but then she noticed that his packet of crisps was lying limp on the floor… clearly obliterated by his hungry rampage.

'Yeah… loads of kids have run past him and me while we were sitting here.' added Shikamaru, folding his arms as he swayed onto the other foot. 'Where have you been _lately_?'

'I've been in the Hidden Grass Village.' she explained, feeling a little insecure as the boys continued to interrogate her mercilessly. 'A woman from that village found me and looked after me for about four years.' she finished.

'Lay off her.' cut in Sasuke before anyone else could ask any more questions about her past. 'She's new in this village, okay? And Kakashi sensei told us to act as though she has never been here and we have never seen here before. Now give her a break.'

'So how come that rule doesn't seem to affect you?' asked Naruto loudly, his hands balled into fists. The static between the two boys was almost visible as they glared at each other, both wishing that the other would fall down dead right there and then.

'Hey wait! I think I know you…' said Kiba suddenly, staring at her intently, his brow slightly furrowed. Mika looked at him curiously, hoping that maybe this could help her remember a bit more. 'You were at the academy, weren't you?' he asked, his forehead furrowing even more. 'You were always hanging out with Sasuke.' he finished, punching the air triumphantly almost making Akamaru fall off, but not quite, a look of utter terror on his little doggy face.

'Was I?' she asked a look of utter bewilderment on her pretty face. Kiba nodded enthusiastically at her, but her face stayed vague on the blank side. She looked up at Sasuke for help, and he nodded diffidently letting her know that the boy with the strange dog fetish was right.

'You! Mika isn't it?' came an unfamiliar girl's voice. The small group of youths looked over to the gate and saw a blond girl standing there in a very strong looking position.

'Umm… maybe…' answered Mika nervously, getting to her feet. 'Why? What have I done this time?' she asked as all the boys around her watched Ino, glowering at her.

'You just barge in here and expect everyone to like you?' she cried out angrily, walking swiftly over to where Mika was standing between Naruto and Sasuke. 'Well I'm Ino Yamanaka, and I'm here to burst your bubble. I'm here to fight you.' she finished flicking her long blond hair over her shoulder dramatically.

'Ummm… I'm only average…' whimpered the girl with the puce coloured hair anxiously. 'I'm not very good…'

'I don't care.' answered Ino flexing her arms and cracking her knuckles before wincing in pain… quickly adopting her previous stature. 'I'm really good, so prepare to be defeated.' suddenly an idea crossed her mind. Mika got the distinct impression that it was painful… not many ideas had passed that way before. 'Wait… I've got an idea…' she said mystically, Shikamaru snickered and nudged Choji in the ribs meaningfully.

'That's a first…' he whispered so only the people around him could hear. Mika tried not to giggle in the face of a nasty looking battle… with no dress sense.

'If I win,' continued Ino, pointing at Mika. 'you have to leave Sasuke alone.' she said before winking at (one can only hope) the dark haired boy standing in front of Mika. 'If you win… umm… I'll leave you alone.'

'I never asked for anything!' protested Mika desperately. 'He's the one who came to me! Not the other way around!' she cried out. Sasuke looked over his shoulder at her nervous face. 'Not that I'm complaining or anything…' she added quickly, she didn't want to lose what looked like her only friend.

'Ino, drop it.' said Shikamaru in the slow drawl which defined his voice. 'She's not stealing your precious Sasuke… not that he's yours or anything.' he added, closing his eyes in exasperation. The blond girl fumed furiously at him, but he ignored her.

'Well he's more mine than hers!' she yelled furiously, her hands in fists at shoulder level. 'They just met!'

'Actually, we've been friends since we were little.' contradicted Sasuke darkly, glaring at Ino as though she was a nasty looking bug which he didn't want to have to touch.

'ENOUGH!!!' bellowed Ino, trying to over-ride what he had just said. 'Now fight me…' there was a pause during which the blond girl adopted a malicious smile. 'or are you too frightened?' Mika's eyes slowly narrowed to irate slits.

'You wish.' she growled, just loud enough for her to hear. Sasuke looked over his shoulder at her with a surprised look on his face. She glanced at him quickly, her expression resolute as she walked determinedly past him and towards Ino.

Mika stood in front of her opponent, her hands hanging by her sides and a nervous yet determined expression adorning her face. Ino clenched her fists and held them up in front of her pretty face, relishing the thought of being able to humiliate this new girl who was trying to muscle her way in between her and Sasuke. The girl with the plum coloured stood with her feet about a foot and a half apart (**Haha! Get it? Foot? Feet??? I kill myself…**), her left hand was balled into a fist at chin level, and her right hand in a motion which could be mistaken for the "halt" sign, but her fingers were bent over in half a sign of the boar.

'Ready to be demolished?' asked Ino threateningly.

'I was about to ask the same question.' replied Mika, a hint of a smile in her clearly nervous voice.

Suddenly Ino ran at the brown eyed girl, swung her right fist at her- and missed. Mika ducked and kicked out, hitting her foe squarely in the shins so quickly that nobody saw. Ino found herself lying face down in the dust with very sore shins, the others suddenly let out a collective intake of breath about three seconds after it had happened.

'I'm so sorry!' cried Mika suddenly, dropping to her knees and trying to help Ino up, but the blond girl just elbowed her angrily. 'I thought you said you were good!' she whimpered apologetically.

'I am!' cried Ino furiously sitting up and glowering at her wrathfully. 'You said you weren't!' she added incredulously, getting to her feet again and taking the defensive stance.

'I'm only average…' mumbled Mika uncomfortably, taking her battle position again. 'but you're even worse than me.' she finished with an apologetic tone. Ino growled angrily as she ran forwards for a second attack. She kicked out with her left leg, but Mika dodged left, letting the leg pass beside her quite comfortably; Ino threw out her fist, but Mika grabbed it with her wrist, twisted her around and managed to shoulder her over her deep plum head of hair and onto the ground.

'Sorry…' she whimpered apologetically, a rueful look on her face as she gazed down at Ino as she tried to get herself up a look of pure hatred on her pretty face. 'Could you try a bit harder, please? I feel really bad kicking your butt.'

'You're supposed to enjoy it, Mika!' cried Naruto, his face grinning as he laughed at her awkwardness. 'Kick her butt, Mika!' he added.

Mika winced as she tried to smile gratefully. Ino kicked her in the back as she got back to her feet, Mika spun around and thumped her in the face, making the blond girl clutch her nose in pain. Mika ran at her, kicking and punching at the same time with opposite members, forcing Ino to back down before she finally fell backwards, crying out for Mika to stop.

'Okay! Okay! Stop!' she cried out as Mika pulled her right fist back for yet another punch but she restrained herself. 'You win… I- please…'

'Are you gonna leave Sasuke and me alone now?' she asked, grabbing the blond girl by her baggy purple top and lifting her off of the ground, baring her white teeth. Ino nodded frantically, anxious that the girl release her, which she did. Mika dropped her cargo unceremoniously and walked off towards the small group of boys, smiling awkwardly.

'Woah…' managed Choji as his newly opened packet of potato chips hung forgotten in his left hand, and his mouth hung open. The same sort of look was also covering the other boys faces as they watched her walk slowly back over to them.

'I… I guess I won…' she said quietly, shrugging and smiling uneasily in front of the disbelieving gazes.


	18. innocent angel 9

_Blue, as his best friend fondly liked to call him, was running leisurely through the square heading towards the designated meeting place, not too fast as to wear himself out, but he was still running. She had said that she had a secret to show him, something that only he could see and that he wasn't allowed to tell anyone about._

_It was his fifth birthday tomorrow, and he hoped that she wouldn't get him into trouble just before his big day. It was alright for her: she wasn't always competing for attention with her brother. He knew he was getting a brand new set of shuriken and kunai knives as a gift from his parents, and he was very excited about it: his first set of weapons! And not those wimpy plastic ones they give little kids to play with, these were real!_

_It was a beautiful sunny July day, the shadows from the trees he was running below dancing off him as he dashed past, the sound of birdsong could be heard even by a scampering kid. He ran past the Academy, feeling the impressive aura it was giving off… soon he would be going there… he couldn't wait. Finally he would be taken seriously by his father, finally he could start to catch up to his older brother, finally he-_

'_Hey Blue!' came his best friends familiar voice from away to his left. He stopped and saw her waving at him, a big smile across her face, a red ribbon hanging limp from a strand of her deep plum coloured hair, her white t-shirt fluttering as she waved frantically and her purple shorts quivering in the gentle summer breeze. He ran over to her grinning, his own hand in the air in a forthcoming gesture. 'Niisan has gone off on a mission.' she told him when they met up half way, her mouth was stretched elegantly in a wide grin, showing that she was thrilled that they were together again._

'_So?' he asked, wondering what the big deal was. 'My Niisan goes away all the time on missions. He comes back, don't worry.' he added thinking that maybe she was worried about her brother, but he highly doubted so due to her grin._

'_Otousan and Okaasan have asked me if I want you and your family to come and have supper with us, and Okaasan can show you the Tikaake traditional dance.' she continued as though she hadn't heard what he had said. The little boys face lit up, he could feel his face breaking into a huge grin of it's own will, his eyes so scrunched up to give more room for his smile to get even bigger, that he was finding it difficult to actually see her, but he did notice her going bright red and dismissed it. 'And why would I be worried about Yama?' she added, her face suddenly puzzled._

'_I'm going to go and ask Otousan and Okaasan!' cried the dark eyed boy excitedly, bouncing on the balls of his feet for a few moments before turning tail and tearing off to go and ask whether they could._

_He ran faster than he had in a very long time. Mika had told him about the Tikaake dance before, and shown him a few of the dance moves that her mother had shown her, but he'd never seen the whole thing. Mika was too young to learn the dance, but she had copied a few techniques which she'd seen her mother using, and she had also seen the outfit they wore too. The Tikaake dance had been passed down from generation to generation by the women of the family, it was a sign of being to control ones power perfectly and so shown to close friends of the family with much honour and pride. Mika was not even five yet and was just starting to discover her talent with water, but she was developing fast and Hochiko had told her that she would have to start learning the dance soon._

_The nearly five year old boy skidded to a halt as he got to his home, leapt inside (banging his ankle on the wooden doorway, but he ignored the pain), kicked off his sandals and hurried inside looking for his parents._

'_Otousan! Okaasan!' he cried desperately, the grin on his face still stuck fast. 'Okaasan! Where are you?' he cried, trying not to slow down as he scurried round the corner and headed towards the kitchen. There he found his mother with an anxious yet inquisitive face._

'_What is it itoshigo?' she asked in a worried tone, as she bent down to his level. 'Have you hurt yourself again? Oh look at your ankle.' the boy looked down at his ankle (which now that she mentioned it, was throbbing) and noticed that it had swollen right up and was oozing a strange yellowish liquid._

'_Okaasan!' he said, excitement over-riding the pain in his ankle as he gasped for breath. 'Can we go-'_

'_Let me fix that,' continued Mikoto, not listening to her son. 'Sit down and take the weight off it.' she indicated a chair, and the boy sat down obligingly, trying to get his breath back._

'_Mika's family has invited us to see their dance!' he managed finally as his mother tied a cool bandage around his throbbing foot, after having rubbed some ointment on. The attractive woman looked up from her sons sore foot with a surprised and apologetic expression covering her even features._

'_Oh, itoshigo…' she started, clearly troubled at something. The boys face fell automatically, he thought he knew what had happened. 'I'm so sorry… your father…' she tried to lessen the blow, but the little boys eyes filled with tears._

'_But Okaasan!' he exclaimed as he wiped away furious tears which were welling up in his deep steely blue eyes. 'Please!!! Make Otousan go…' he begged, but the woman shook her head._

'_Aiji,' she continued, her face miserably resolute. 'your brother is home, and your father wants to have supper with him.'_

_And that was final._

**Right, a couple of translations are needed here!**

**Niisan: brother Otousan: father, but in like... an honourable way... the kid honours her dad. Okaasan: mother, also honourable itoshigo: dear child... kinda like darling if you get my drift. aiji: pretty much the same sort of meaning.**

**R&R please!**


	19. forsaken angel 10

Mika giggled meekly as Naruto told her about the time he had saved Sasuke's sorry butt in the forest of death during the Chuunin exam when some weird woman attacked them with a giant snake. Beside her the dark haired boy fumed, glaring at the boy with the whisker marks on his cheeks. They were sitting at the same bar where she had first met him, Sasuke and her with a bowl of half eaten ramen in front of them, Naruto had three empty bowls and a fourth which he was just finishing off.

'So then munch, munch Sasuke was like "here have the damn thing", and I was like munch, munch "What did you do with Sasuke?" cos you know, he never gives up and all… believe it!' he explained through mouthfuls of ramen while Mika politely tried to dodge the bits which were flying at her.

'You forgot to mention when you got beaten up by that masked ninja.' pointed out Sasuke trying to put his team mate down. But Naruto ignored him.

'And then munch, munch I had to stop the giant snake from eating him there and then!' continued the blond boy, smiling proudly. 'He was too scared!' Suddenly Sasuke stood up, his face livid and his hands clenched into angry fists. Mika could have sworn he was going to hit Naruto right there, and by the looks of it so did Naruto, but he just strode off angrily back into the crowded street.

'I'd better… you know…' muttered Mika as she got up from her stool, wincing a little awkwardly at her friend. Naruto didn't complain, his mouth was full of ramen and he'd been inches away from a near death experience… right now, all he needed was more ramen.

Mika ran after Sasuke into the crowded street, trying to crane her neck to see over all the people who were meandering along, minding their own business, making purchases and various other things people do in streets. She called out for him, but she got no reply. She pushed her way along the road, trying to get past everyone without too much hassle, but to no avail. The sea of heads bobbing in the opposite direction pushed her away from where she had last seen Sasuke heading like a strong current on a stormy day, leading a ship away from the safety of the port.

'Sasuke!' she cried out again, feeling as though her only link to her past was swiftly fading into darkness and the only person she could relate to was swiftly growing tired of her. 'Please, Sasuke…' she called out, feeling the tearing sensation in her throat telling her to cry, hearing the sound of her voice as it wavered and cracked with emotion. 'Please…' she couldn't hold it in any more. She didn't know why this was so painful… she was still being led down the street by the crowd who didn't seem to care that she had let tears creep down her cheeks. 'Sasuke don't leave me!' she screamed at the top of her lungs, her throat rasping with emotion, her eyes closed against the tears and hostile glares of all the strangers around her, her hand outstretched, hoping that she might yet be saved.

And there it was. She felt warm, reassuring fingers entwining with hers, promising safety, promising security, promising the world. She locked her fingers in his hand and felt his lock with hers promising her she'd be alright. She opened her eyes and there he was, smiling at her comfortingly with soft eyes, and his hair undulating gently as the masses passed them by, ignoring them. He pulled her gently, yet powerfully, closer to him and put his arms around her shoulder, drawing her into a passionate, loving hug. A hug which simply screamed "I don't know what I did without you." from both parties. She interlaced her arms through his, around his back so that her hands were placed on either shoulder blade and her face was nuzzled securely in the crook of his neck.

They could have stayed there forever. Their arms interlocked and their faces close. His head lay gently on top of her plum coloured hair which smelled faintly of cherry, her face placed on his shoulder with her chin level with his collarbone. The crowded street was suddenly empty.

They were alone, two kids against the world.


	20. innocent angel 10

_The two children sneaked through the shadows, heading towards the safety of the swarming street where they could finally escape. Mika crept her small, trembling hand into his for reassurance, feeling his fingers close on hers making her feel a lot safer, though the adrenaline making her whole body shake. The dark haired boy turned and smiled at his younger accomplice, the same emotions pumping through his six year old veins, his breath shuddering but his smile stuck firmly on his lips._

'_If we run, we can make it…' he told her under his breath, nodding convincingly at the nervous looking girl. She looked over her shoulder at where her friends older sister was sitting, writing something down when she was supposed to be watching them. 'She won't look up…' promised the boy, Mika turned back to him and smiled mischievously._

_The two children snuck around the corner of the gate, out of sight of the "baby-sitter" and into the street, running as fast as they could in the direction of her house where all their parents were having a grown up conversation with Mika's best friend's older brother. Apparently they were talking about his and Mika's future, but the young girl was annoyed that they hadn't included her in this conversation which DID have something to do with her… and she couldn't do it without Blue._

_The six year old boy climbed over the wall, and fell nimbly on his feet in the long grass. Beside him the girl landed with a small "oomph" before falling down to her hands and knees, he leant over and helped her up and they ran off again. She giggled a bit, letting him take her hand and lead her away, picking up their feet as they tried to get through the grass which was swiftly getting higher than their heads._

_They finally managed to battle their way through the long grassed meadow, after several trips and bumps, and made it onto the safety of the dirt road which was the only link from Konoha to the Tikaake hamlet. They walked slowly along, hand in hand, catching their breath and trying to work out what they were going to do when they got there._

_A few minutes passed unhurriedly and they found themselves outside the door of the dining room, listening to the door. Mika could hear her parents talking about her and comparing her to her to her older brother, she was satisfied to hear them mentioning that she had better potential than he had at her age._

'_Yes, our second child has the most potential too.' came the boys fathers voice, booming around the room and bouncing off of the doors Mika and her best friend had their ears pressed against. 'Our only daughter was a disappointment, I'm afraid.' he finished, making Blue wince theatrically at Mika who stifled a giggle. 'But our youngest could turn out very impressive.'_

'_Mika is going to be a great shinobi.' came her future husbands deep enthralling voice. 'She's training very hard and when she has mastered her talent, she'll be formidable.' Mika grinned at her best friend, pride gushing through every fibre of her small being. 'As will my brother.' finished the older boy, a smile in his voice. 'You can say I have potential, but he will be better than me.'_


	21. forsaken angel 11

'So, umm… why did you pass the Chuunin exam before us?' asked Sasuke as he watched Mika swing a thin stick back and forth absent-mindedly by her side, while they both walked leisurely around Konoha vaguely looking at the sights… not that either were very interested: they were merely meandering around to be together.

'Because when I was taken to Kusa no Kuni, they didn't know how old I was' explained the girl, whipping the head off of some weeds inattentively, a small polite smile playing across her lips. 'and when I… err… developed… earlier than the other girls I had been put with they guessed I was older than them. Two years actually.' she said with a small giggle. 'It's kinda weird being told first that you're two years older than you thought you were, then being told that you're not… kinda messes you up.' she finished shrugging a little.

They both looked up at the Hokage's faces silently, respect etched in their eyes and on their faces. Sasuke tore his eyes away from the impressive monument and glanced sideways at the girl next to him who was frowning, puzzlement stretched across her pretty face. He wondered whether to ask her what was on her mind, but shyness took a strong hold of him and he decided to stay silent, hoping that she would tell him herself. He watched as she took a deep breath, closing her eyes and looking in the direction of the foot of the cliff, but he knew she wasn't seeing anything. **(Okay, put on a sad song now! This is supposed to be really emotional for Mika… so you know…Yes I AM talking to you!!! It helps!)**

'Every now and then,' she started, clearly apprehensive of what she was about to tell him. 'I get these… flashes… flashes of memory… like when you had a dream and you can only remember snippets… like a picture.' she explained, still not opening her stunning chocolaty eyes. 'I just got one of those.' she finished quietly, finally looking up at him.

Sasuke noticed that her eyes were watering, the tears welling up quickly, threatening to overflow.

'I saw an older boy.' she told him, the tears audible in her straining voice as she tried to force them to subside. 'He had dark brown hair… blue eyes… was that my brother? Was that…' she paused, trying to keep the tears at bay but they were quietly winning. '…Yama?' she finished, the tears finally defeating her and rolling down her cheeks as she spoke the name of her older brother for the first time in over three years.

'Probably.' answered Sasuke after a pause as he tried to remember what her brother had looked like. 'What was he doing?' he asked, trying to work out whether it was Yama and not one of her cousins. Mika sniffed, trying to hide how emotional she really was, but the tears kinda gave it away.

'We were… we were looking up at the faces…' she started, looking back up at the four faces staring down at the sternly. 'I was really little… he looked about eight… or something…' she wiped her nose on the back of her gloved hand before continuing. 'He was umm… explaining something to me and… pointing at the faces.' she kept taking deep steadying breaths to try and stem the perpetual flow of tears rolling down her cheeks. 'He picked me up.' she gave a meek, unconvincing laugh but her face was contorted in sorrow. 'He was smiling at me… he poked me in the nose..' with this final detail she dropped the charade of strength and fell to her knees, burying her face in her hands as she sobbed uncontrollably.

Sasuke knelt down next to her and awkwardly pulled her into an embarrassed embrace, feeling her back and shoulders heave as she continued to cry. He felt her suddenly wrap her arms around his stomach and push her face into his chest, still sobbing pathetically so he placed his head on her back, bent over her protectively.

'I can't even remember him!' she cried out suddenly, the pain horribly obvious in her voice which was contorted into desperate agony.

They sat there for at least ten minutes while she gradually calmed down until Sasuke could have sworn that she had fallen asleep, but she sat up again, her eyes all red and swollen. She smiled uneasily at him as they sat opposite each other, their hands in their laps because they didn't know what to do with them.

'Sorry…' she whispered with embarrassment, shrugging a little and not meeting his eye. 'I must look horrible…' she wiped her eyes with her fingers at the same time as wiping her cheeks with her palms. '_Great… I have to cry in front of the hottest guy in the world… that's just _perfect' she thought furiously.

'It's okay…' said the boy awkwardly, still gazing at her affectionately as she tried to tidy herself up. 'Girls are allowed to cry… you saw me cry… now that's embarrassing!' he joked, she giggled, forgetting about her face which was definitely looking better than it had a moment ago.

'Your whole family was killed and then I come here and can't remember anything.' she said quickly, trying to make him feel better. 'You have more of a right to cry than I do!' They both smiled at each other companionably, not knowing what else to say.

Sasuke got to his feet and held out his hand for Mika to take, which she did, standing up and brushing the dust off of her clothes at the same time. They set off in the opposite direction, away from the Hokage's faces and that little incident which had, yet again, brought them even closer.

As they walked down an unused side street, Mika glanced sideways at the boy walking next to her before looking straight out ahead of her, narrowly dodging a dustbin. Sasuke glanced nervously at the girl walking beside him as she barely missed an empty dustbin, trying to psych himself up to do something he hadn't done for so long… his heart raced as he decided to go for it, it suddenly jumped into his throat where it pounded uncomfortably. Mika was looking straight ahead of her, unaware that he was having an inward battle between his heart and his muscles.

Suddenly she looked sideways at him, a small, innocent and grateful smile on her lips which made Sasuke go weak at the knees for the first time in an age. He tried to smile back but, to his dismay, it came out as a pained grimace. She looked away, clearly thrown by his reaction, a confused and slightly wounded look on her pretty face.

Sasuke hated himself for making her look that way. He closed his eyes as they turned right into a larger deserted street, took a deep reassuring breath as he decided to do it. He opened his eyes again, glanced at her apprehensively, then forced his muscles to do his bidding.

Mika felt the soft touch of skin from a nervous finger as it hesitantly searched for a comfortable way to take her hand. She opened her fingers and let the boys fingers entwine gently with hers, the reassuring warmth of skin on skin making both teenagers a little uncomfortable but neither would ever have dreamt of letting go. She looked up and saw Sasuke looking at their hands in mild surprise, his cheeks slowly burning into a healthy red blush as she felt her own cheeks going scarlet, but she smiled as he looked up at her, disbelief etched on his blushing face. He smiled back at her, and this time it was the easiest thing to do.


	22. innocent angel 11

'_I am NOT pathetic!!!' screamed the furious seven year old Mika, glowering wrathfully at her older brother who was laughing maliciously. 'I'm just as good as you!!!' The two siblings had been left at home while their parents went off to buy seedling vegetables with Mika's uncle Keitaru._

'_You'll never be as good as me,' he told her teasingly, working her up into an angry frenzy. 'because you're just a little girl.' he finished with a mock pitying look. She gritted her teeth and growled in frustration, trying to decide whether to break the rules and use her waterfall against him. She could see that he was also trying to settle on whether she was going to use it and therefore whether he could._

'_Otousan says I have more potential than you do!' she shouted at him, trying to get him to use his power before her so that she wouldn't be in the wrong. She saw that it had touched a nerve, his dark blue eye twitched in rage, and he brushed his dark haired fringe out of his eyes with an elegant sweeping movement and fought with himself against using his electricity. They both knew they were equally powerful as each other, electricity and water mixing with intense energy, strong enough to blow the hamlet they lived in up._

_In the same fraction of a second, they both made the decision to start a full blown fight with each other. A wall of water rose at least five yards in the air, crashing down beside the girl with the distinctive sound of water on hard ground, her fists clenched as she controlled the gallons and gallons of water. Two thunderbolts stabbed down on either side of the fourteen year old boy, as he held his hands up in the air and a look of concentration crept over his handsome face. They stood there for a moment, working up the courage to actually making a move, reluctant to go first and have all the blame put on them, the power and concentration of strength making both children feel awkward yet formidable._

_A second later Yama threw his right hand forwards, leading the lightning on that side rocket forwards at his little sister but before it had got less than a yard forwards, a wall of water slipped between the bolt and the girl with a mighty elegance which would have reminded any on-lookers of a large shire horse. The water sucked the electricity in and rushed towards Yama menacingly but he used the substitution jutsu to replace himself with a large log._

'_That's not fair!' she cried out indignantly with an infuriated scowl on her young face. 'I haven't learnt that yet!' she glanced around her, painfully aware that he could be hiding anywhere around her. She ran her hands around her, directing the wall of water all around the yard, making sure she didn't damage anything in the process._

_Suddenly, she felt a pair of hands around her ankles, grasping her firmly and pulling her downwards. She screamed as she felt the cold dirt encroach all over her body, ruffling her clothes, and slipping down the back of them and into her underwear uncomfortably. She opened her eyes again and saw Yama towering over her with a satisfied and proud expression on his handsome face as he brushed his hair out of his eyes. He clicked his fingers and a third bolt landed just behind him, and slowly made it's way towards the little girls face._

'_Okaasan!!! Otousan!!!' she cried desperately, terrified that her older sibling would go through with it. 'Obaasan!!! HELP!!!' she screamed out, unable to move her body other than her head which writhed in terror._

'_What's going on out here?' came a shaky voice from behind Yama. Mika craned her neck to see who's voice had saved her, although she already knew who it was, as Yama turned around with an anxious look on his face._

'_Obaasan!' cried the seven year old from her position at ground level. 'Obaasan he attacked me! He was going to kill me!!!' she yelled out, her chest being slowly crushed. 'Obaasan, help!!!'_

_Suddenly Yama was thrown over by a large amount of water which crashed over him, pinning him down but holding his head up over the top so he was in no immediate danger._

_The old woman hobbled over with her walking stick, her scrunched up eyes moving from the girl who's head was just above the ground, to the boy who's head was perilously close to the water. She was muttering grumpily as usual, her feet still comfortably sitting in their inside slippers as she shuffled over to them._

'_Come on you weak thing.' she said in her harsh voice, scowling at Mika. 'You have to learn to get yourself out of those situations.' Mika looked up at her nervously, bemused at what her grandmother wanted from her. 'Aim your waterfall beneath you and force yourself out.' explained the seventy year old as she gazed down at her seven year old granddaughter._

'_Obaasan, can you let me out now, please?' asked Yama uncertainly, the water lapping at his lips forebodingly. 'I err… can't get-'_

'_Oh be quiet, you.' snapped Yoshino cantankerously, glaring at him for a moment before going back to the girl. 'Come on you. Don't let him be right about you. You are not a weakling.' she growled, almost trying to scare her into doing it._

_Mika frowned as she tried to aim her waterfall power below her, concentration etched across her young features. Suddenly a thick pylon of water spurted out a few inches away from her face, making her cry out in fright but Yoshino didn't flinch, impressing both her grandchildren._

'_Oh come on.' exclaimed the old woman, her eyes unscrunching a little to glower at the girl. 'Aim girl, AIM!!!' Mika knew her grandmother was grumpy, but she hadn't expected this from such and old and wrinkled thing, withered and stout, her tight bun sitting comfortably on the back of her grey head._

_The girl with the plum coloured hair closed her eyes and scrunched up her hazel eyes in concentration as she tried to get the waterfall to surge up just below her. She could feel a low rumbling just below her feet, she tried to force it to move closer to her knees, and felt the ground below her crack and begin to give way. Before she knew what had happened, she was being pushed out of the ground and into the air, water splashing deliciously around her, keeping her afloat in the air._

'_Look Obaasan!' she cried out gleefully, pride gushing through her not unlike the water around her as she bounced around on top of the jet of water cool water. 'Look at me!'_

'_Look at your parents, beppin.' came the shaky voice from below her. Mika looked down and saw her mother pulling Yama out of his watery prison and her father smiling up at her proudly, surprise etched in his features as he held his hand up in front of his eyes, shading them from the sun. Her grandmother was smiling up at her as well, as though she had accomplished her goal for the week, and Yama was scowling moodily._

_The perfect end to a not so perfect day._

**Oke doke... again, some translating to do... Obaasan means grandmother, Okaasan (which I have mentioned before) means mother, and Otousan (which I have also mentioned previously) means father.**

**Right, if you read this, would you PLEASE say something!!! I need some encouragement here! Or at least some constructive critisisme, please!!! Thanks for all those who DO speak out!**


	23. forsaken angel 12

Somewhere in the depths of Konoha, Rock Lee was listening intently to what the love of his life was telling him about the newcomer who had nearly killed her, when all Sakura had ever done was be friendly!

'And you are sure she wants to take Uchiha Sasuke away to Orochimaru?' asked the boy with the tidy bowl cut, frowning slightly as he registered what Sakura was telling him. Behind her Ino was nodding fervently, massaging and aching wrist and gazing at him intently through two black eyes.

'Yes Rock Lee,' said Sakura tearfully, clutching the front of his skin-tight, dark green jump suit. 'and she wants to bring down the Hokage!' she added desperately, tears rolling down her cheeks. Rock Lee closed his eyes for a moment, his hands balled into angry fists and his expression resolute.

'I am a peaceful being,' he started quietly, his eyes still closed as he worked up a sufficiently powerful aura around him. He didn't notice the pink haired girl roll her stunning green eyes in exasperation. 'but when my True Love is in peril, and the Village is in jeopardy,' he snapped his eyes open and gazed over the top of Sakura's head, off in the distance. 'then I must prove myself!' he finished dramatically, lifting his left fist up to shoulder level. '_And this way, I can prove my love for Sakura in the most chivalrous way!'_ he added to himself, winking discreetly. 'I shall see you when I have defeated this fiend!' he cried, looking at Sakura and then at Ino before dashing off in the direction Sakura had told him she had last seen them.

'What a stuck up jerk.' said Ino when he was out of earshot as Sakura wiped away her crocodile tears and adopted a bitter expression.

'Yeah, but he's gonna show _Mika_ that I'm not to be messed with.' she said venomously, still glaring off after Lee. 'More than you did, anyway.' she added, looking over her shoulder at Ino who glowered back.

'At least it wasn't Sasuke who beat me up.' she replied with a smug look on her pretty face. Sakura fumed, clenching her fists furiously as she tried desperately to find a decent come back… 'Billboard brow.' added the blond girl in an arrogantly satisfied tone.

…

'So then Bishounen said that he hadn't even been there!' explained Mika, moving her hands around energetically as she told Sasuke about her time in the Hidden Grass Village. 'And then Nekura just took my hand and we just went back to the square and then we-' she stopped herself: She didn't want Sasuke to know what they had done. Sasuke's smile disappeared. She had thought she was older then, and so she had acted that age. She blushed awkwardly, terrified that Sasuke had guessed which he probably had. 'I- I think you'd like him.' she said quietly, not looking at him. 'Nekura, I mean.' she added 'Bishounen isn't really your type.' she added feeling as though the ground swallowing her up would be a more pleasant pass-time than this awkward silence which had sneaked up on them and taken over.

They sat in silence, not looking at each other, trying to think of something to say. Out of the corner of her eye, Mika noticed a boy in a green jumpsuit running towards them. He had pitch black hair cut into a shiny bowl cut, he had exceptionally bushy eyebrows, and his outfit left something to be desired.

'Who's that?' asked Mika, nudging Sasuke who had been inspecting his sandals. She indicated the boy who was swiftly approaching and Sasuke sighed in annoyance.

'That's Rock Lee.' answered the dark eyed boy, his expression that of intense boredom. 'Doesn't anyone know the meaning of the word "privacy" in this village?' he asked himself, leaning his lower face on his entwined fingers as his elbows pressed into his knees. The boy had now slowed and was approaching them at a brisk walk, his face resolute and (despite the ridiculous eyebrows and hair) menacing.

'Is he always this good-looking?' asked Mika under her breath, the hint of a joking smile in her soft voice. Sasuke looked at her with a small smile playing on his lips, but he lost it when he looked over her shoulder.

'Are you the trouble making newcomer?' asked the boy in a formal but strident voice. Mika turned to Sasuke inquiringly, before answering nervously.

'Umm… I'm Mika if that's what you're wondering.' Rock Lee simply gazed at her intently, making her feel exceptionally uncomfortable. 'Uhh… I hear you're Rock Lee. Cool name that.' she said uneasily, trying to start up a polite conversation which might put an end to his ogling her. 'Umm… I like your… erm…' she tried desperately to find something on him which she liked… at least a little bit, but found it surprisingly difficult. '… leg warmers.' she finished, trying to smile but it came out a strange sort of nervous wince which reminded Sasuke of his own from earlier. 'What have you been-'

'You and I shall do battle.' declared Rock Lee suddenly, relieving Mika of speaking and yet she wasn't relieved. 'Right here. Right now.' he finished taking a step back from the sidewalk Mika and Sasuke were sitting on and taking on a defensive stance.

'Yeah…' started Mika quietly, trying to hide that she was completely thrown by this sudden urge of his for them to fight. 'Thing about that is…' she tried to find a decent excuse not to have to fight him, she knew she was no good at it. 'I err… Sasuke… umm…' she couldn't find one. She was stuffed. 'How about later?' she asked with a pained smile, her shoulders lifting up around her neck as she tried to hide.

'That is a very good idea.' exclaimed the boy with the scary eyebrows after a moment of reflection, Mika's eyes widened in surprise and relief. 'I shall inform everyone, and we shall have a public battle.' he continued holding his fists up by his face. The pale colour in Mika's face subsided in the blink of an eye as her heart sank and a look of terror replaced her rosy cheeks on her face. 'Very honourable.' finished the boy staring at her again for a moment, before he raced off to inform the rest of the village.

'_Great. I just find the guy of my dreams and I have to go and get myself killed in a dumb battle._' thought Mika miserably as she watched her adversary dash off into the distance. 'Umm… so…' she started apprehensively, turning back to Sasuke who was smiling at her pityingly. 'any bright ideas as to how I can survive this?' she asked imploringly.

'Well…' started Sasuke looking off into the distance with a contemplating look. 'How are you in taijutsu?' he asked, looking at her enquiringly.

'I'm doomed.' she whimpered, curling herself up and putting her head between her knees wretchedly where she rocked herself back and forwards repeating the words "I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die" over end over again.

**Okay, in the last chapter I forgot to mention one other translation... beppin which means cute kid or something like that. Sorry! And at the beginning of this chapter there are a couple of names. You don't have to know what they mean to understand, but if you do wanna know what they mean just leave a review asking me, kay?**


	24. innocent angel 12

_Mika and Blue walked along the road side by side, chatting about how Yama was away again and what Mika could do to his bedroom._

'_You could take down any pictures he has up and replace them with girly stuff.' suggested the seven year old boy rubbing his nose as they walked past a fish stall. 'You know, like the stuff Emiko used to have.'_

'_What sort of stuff did she have?' asked Mika curiously looking over at her friend while holding her nose against the smell of fish. 'And don't say girly stuff. I'm a girl.' she added, looking at the stall on her other side and hitching her bag up a little higher on her shoulder._

'_Umm… pink stuff.' answered Blue trying to remember. 'She took it all down a while ago.' he continued, the frown creasing his forehead a little. Mika watched him intently. She loved watching him concentrate, it was the same when he was training: so intent on being as good as his brother. 'Sorry I said girly stuff… you don't have that sort of thing, do you?'_

'_I did when I was little,' admitted the girl as they turned a corner. 'but I took it all down when I was tall enough to reach it. Okaasan gave all the pictures to me when I was a baby and they were all baby things.' she waved at another kid from their class, the boy beside her scowled._

'_I don't like him.' he told her under his breath, still glaring after the other boy who was being followed by a little white dog. 'They're inferior to us.' he added darkly._

'_What? Everyone in the village?' she asked curiously, gazing at her best friend inquisitively. 'Why are they inferior?' she added, looking after the boy and his dog. She knew where they were heading, along with all the other kids of their age: the academy._

'_They're not as good as us.' he answered as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. 'They're not in our league. They are not in our clan.' he finished proudly. Mika snapped her head around to glare at him incredulously._

'_What?' she asked dangerously, stopping in her tracks. Blue stopped and looked at her uncomprehending. 'I'm not in your clan. Am I inferior?' she asked angrily. The boy realised he was on thin ice and stayed quiet. 'You're starting to sound like your brother.' she said quietly. The boy frowned at her._

'_I didn't mean that.' he said quietly, trying to keep his temper at bay._

'_Then what did you mean?' she asked, her own temper almost at boiling point. 'Just because someone isn't an Uchiha doesn't make them inferior to you.' The dark haired boy was about to answer when a jet of water suddenly crashed down between him and Mika, cutting them off from each other and covering his voice with the noise. Around them kids on their way to the academy were stopping and staring, pointing and whispering (well not whispering, but talking so that he couldn't hear them… which wasn't difficult.)_

'_Mika I-' he started, but his voice was drowned out but the wall of water between him and the girl. He frowned and ran around the side, trying to get around it, but he soon realised that the wall of water was in fact slowly circling around her, making it impossible for him to see her. 'Mika, please-' Suddenly a small gap appeared and there was the brown eyed girl frowning at him._

'_What?' she asked furiously. 'Because I'm in a clan too I'm superior to everyone else? Or because I'm your friend?' she asked sceptically, but she didn't let him answer. The small gap closed up and the water began to move in the direction of the Academy, with Mika inside._

'_Wow! She's so cool!' The boy with the steely blue eyes turned around and saw various kids of about the same age as him, all watching in awe as the five meter high wall of water moved slowly away, their eyes wide and their mouths open._


	25. forsaken angel 13

Mika had been practising her taijutsu with Sasuke for three hours when a small kid with brown hair and what looked like a towel for a cape came running up to them.

'Are you Mika Tikaake?' he asked in a slightly raspy voice from running. Mika's heart sank: she was being summoned. She nodded nervously. 'You're fighting Rock Lee in fifteen minutes in the stadium.' he told her, staring at her mercilessly. She tried to take a deep breath but choked and spluttered nervously before falling to her knees in despair.

'He's gonna destroy me…' she whimpered hiding her face in her hands desolately. Sasuke knelt down beside her and patted her on the back reassuringly, motioning to the messenger to vamoose.

'Why is he gonna destroy you?' asked the boy curiously, refusing to go away. Sasuke glowered at him threateningly, but Mika looked up at him sadly.

'Because he's a master of taijutsu,' she started to explain, her face sadly resolute. 'and I suck at taijutsu.' she continued. She looked tired, and her eyes were full of despairing determination, as though she knew that this was her destiny and she'd see it through till the end. 'I'm better in genjutsu.' she finished brushing her plum coloured hair out of her eyes.

'Well, why don't you use genjutsu then?' asked the boy shrugging as though it was obvious. Mika looked up at him as though he was a retard, opened her mouth and shut it a couple of times before deciding to stop, her expression that of hope.

'Why didn't I think of that?' she asked herself aloud, gazing off into the distance, looking at nothing in particular. The boy crossed his arms smugly. She looked back up at the boy in ecstatic joy. 'What's your name?'

'Konohamaru.' he answered, holding his head up haughtily. Mika got up, took the boys face in her hands and placed her lips gently on his cheek for a second before pulling away and running off in the direction of the stadium, leaving the honourable grandson standing there with a wide eyed dreamy look on his face and Sasuke glaring at him before he ran off after Mika.

They arrived at the stadium with a minute to spare. Mika had butterflies, but was prepared to go in: she wasn't going down without a fight. Sasuke was giving her tips on her opponents weaknesses, since he had already fought against him, but Mika was repeating words under her breath, not listening to him.

When the time came, she stood up with a determined look on her pretty face, her fists clenched in their gloves, she checked her shuriken holster and her kunai knives and walked out. As the sun hit her face she heard a great rumble of clapping and whooping from the crowds, making her feel self conscious. She looked around and saw that most of the shady side was full and a few rows were full on the sunny side, she searched around for someone she knew but couldn't see anyone.

On the other side of the stadium she saw Rock Lee coming out, looking around and then starting to ogle her again. Mika's heart was racing painfully in her chest as she walked forwards to the centre where a man was standing, ready to referee the fight. She looked him up and down once and then, as she got closer, fixed on his face. He had dark brown hair, dark eyes, and a scar which ran over his nose and below both eyes.

Mika's knees went weak as he smiled reassuringly at her, her heart was still pumping painfully in her chest, but it missed a couple of beats when he said "hi" in a cool, casual voice.

'My name's Iruka, and I'll be your referee for today.' he said politely, his voice business-like. Mika smiled dreamily at him, almost forgetting what was in store for her. 'Hiya, Lee.' added the man smiling at Rock Lee. Mika glared at her opponent, feeling a gush of jealousy as Iruka smiled at her foe.

'_I'm about to fight the biggest battle since the Chuunin exam and the referee just _has_ to be a hotty!_' she thought furiously as she regained control over her legs.

'Keep this fight clean, okay?' said the man with the brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. He raised his hand in the air, looking from Mika to Lee and back again before bringing it down again quickly while shouting: "FIGHT!!!"

Mika threw herself back as hard as she could, getting enough distance between her and her adversary, but he was following her. She back-flipped even further but saw that he was airborne, she crouched down and let him fly over her head only inches away from her scalp. She heard a collective intake of breath from the crowd as she ran in the opposite direction, trying desperately to get some distance between her and the boy with the scary hair. She turned around and as she had expected there he was, tailing her. She managed to do a quick hand movement: horse, tiger… Lee was thrown backwards far enough to give Mika enough time to do her favourite jutsu.

'Grass element: Hidden Deer jutsu!!' she cried as she moved her hands, closing her eyes and swiftly putting them into snake, horse, dragon, dog, tiger, snake and boar holding the boar as she opened her eyes again. As she had expected, there were about sixteen other images of her standing in various places, all every now and then shimmering like a bad TV screen, she did a quick snake sign and watched herself flicker just like the others, confusing Lee into thinking that she was just one of the illusions.

Rock Lee ran at the pack of Mikas and started kicking around in them, but his feet just went straight through them. He came straight at the real Mika, making her heart miss another beat as he threw his fist out to punch her, but she put her hand into snake and his fist went straight through her face, followed by his whole body as though she was made of smoke.

She turned around and saw him attacking another of her illusions, she spun around and hit him squarely in the back of the head with her left foot, making him fly forwards and land on the ground rubbing the back of his neck and scowling up at the many Mikas, some of which blew a kiss to him provocatively. Periodically the illusions would fizzle for a moment before becoming whole again, adding to the affect of trickery, and Mika had to remember to make a discreet snake sign to give the impression that she was also an illusion. Before Mika could catch her breath, Lee was up again and trying to work out what to do. The girl who was controlling all her semblances ran forwards, making seven others run forwards at the same time and before she got to him, she made herself shimmer to trick him into thinking that she was a clone, making sure the others didn't, and then threw out a fist to hit him squarely in his nose, which proceeded to bleed. But she'd made a mistake: she'd released the boar sign which held the illusions in existence. She quickly moved backwards and started a different technique, but Rock Lee was onto her now and threw himself at her, blood still trickling down his chin and onto his green jumpsuit (which was still freaking Mika out).

Mika held him off reasonably well, moving two limbs at a time which let her keep up with him, but less balance. She stepped backwards and tripped on a stray stone, falling backwards onto her back. Before she had had time to get up, Lee was standing above her and had grabbed her by her deep purple top and was picking her up. He threw her high into the air where she floated for a moment before feeling herself start to fall, suddenly she realised he was below her. She felt a small change in the air on her right and guessed that he was about to kick her on the left, she hoped to goodness she was right because she curled herself around on her left, perfect for protecting that side but her back was completely unprotected.

She caught his leg as it zoomed towards her stomach, on the left side, and managed to twist herself around by using his motion and landed heavily on the ground. She looked up and found a knee heading straight for her face. As it made contact with her lower face she squealed in terror and pain before being thrown back several yards. She opened her eyes and pressed her hands to her mouth where she was sure he had broken at least five teeth, but she didn't have time to check: Lee was in the air again, ready to punch her again with all the force that his descent was giving him. Mika ripped open her shuriken holster and yanked out three which she threw up at him, growling in frustration. Lee dodged the shuriken and was about to land when he noticed the kunai knives she had in her hands. He landed just beside her, trying to miss them but she jumped up and slashed them diagonally at him with both hands, he leapt back but she slit through his jumpsuit, making it hang open at the front showing his bare chest which was surprisingly toned.

The two teens stood for a moment, about three yards apart, watching each other intently trying to work out what the others next move would be, breathing deeply. Mika's fear had subsided now, she was tired and perspiring from the effort but Rock Lee seemed not to have broken a sweat, only adrenaline was keeping her going now. She glanced up at the crowd, her chest heaving and her hands trembling, she looked for a familiar face but only found that of Sakura and Ino who were both glaring at her. She looked back down at Rock Lee who was still watching her, standing at about forty five degrees to her but his face was glued to her. Disappointment was coursing through her worn out body now, she didn't know why but she had expected to see someone there, watching her fight, rooting for her. Maybe she wanted to see Iruka smiling down at her, but he wasn't there. Maybe she missed her friends back in the Hidden Grass Village.

Suddenly she had an idea. She was about to do a different jutsu, but before she could even start the hand movements Lee had started running at her again. He jumped up into the air and spun around with his leg out aiming for Mika's head.

'Water style: water wall!' she cried her hands fumbling into tiger, snake and tiger, her voice trembling as Lee's foot came closer and closer, but just before the impact a wall of water sprang up between them. From the stands, Sasuke's heart leapt as he saw the wall of water crashing in front of Mika for the first time in so long… but then he saw her hands in the tiger sign: it was just a jutsu.

Lee was thrown back by the water but picked himself up and launched the same attack as the water receded into the ground, along with a vast amount of Mika's chakra. She stood panting for a moment before doing her grass village jutsu again, but this time she only had enough chakra for six illusions which all fizzled quietly. Six tired looking Mikas, all with their hands stuck in the boar sign, all glaring at Rock Lee rebelliously, all with heaving chests as she tried to catch her breath. She did the snake sign and let her body fizzle quietly, the sensation resembling pins and needles. Lee was throwing himself around through the illusions, kicking them and hitting, but his feet and hands just went straight through them as though they weren't there. He let his leg slip through the illusion closest to Mika and she suddenly saw him coming straight at her, she held her breath as she did the snake sign, but her chakra was very low and she wasn't entirely insubstantial. She winced as she felt his leg slide through her stomach, feeling as though someone had just tugged a steel slab through her.

Rock Lee noticed that and turned around to give her a second kick, and this time she was almost completely solid. She let her clones fade into nothingness as she focused all her chakra on her stomach which her opponent was trying to force his leg through with increasing difficulty. Mika screamed out in pain as she felt herself become solid again, her whole body other than the thin band where Lee was pushing his leg through.

'Get out!' she screamed at him as she realised she could no longer hold it. 'Get your leg out!!!' she bellowed as Lee's leg stopped moving, his face anxious. Mika gritted her teeth in excruciating pain as her flesh closed in on the boys ankle, she tried to hold it off, but her chakra was so used up. 'Listen, you win! Just get your leg OUT OF MY STOMACH, PLEASE!!!' She cried out in agony as Lee wrenched his leg out of her almost completely consistent stomach.

She fell onto her now fully solid stomach, and lay there panting, her eyes closed tight as she felt footsteps running swiftly over. She opened her deep brown eyes and looked over at Rock Lee who was still glaring at her, and smiled.

'I guess you won.' she panted, trying to push herself up, and failing miserably.

'But you could have trapped me.' said the boy with the bowl cut, still watching her avidly. 'You could have won.'

'It would have hurt.' she told him, closing her eyes again as the footsteps came closer. 'Me as well as you… it's not pleasant having someone else's leg inside you.' she winced as her stomach throbbed agonisingly. She could hear voices all around her now, unfamiliar voices shouting worried things at unseen faces, the footsteps so close Mika might have been worried they were going to step on her, but she was too worn out. She could hear her name being called, but it sounded like it was miles away, she could feel someone turning her over and picking her upper body up.

'Mika! Mika, can you hear me?' came the voice, echoing around her. She tried to open her eyes, but found it laboriously difficult. She managed to lift her heavy eyelids and a face swam in front of her eyes, a familiar face, the dark hair falling down towards her, his dark eyes fearful.

'Did I look stupid?' she asked as the face swimming in front of her as she tried to control her eyes which were trying desperately to roll back into her head.

'You were the best.' came the voice again, as the face began to clear up and Mika noticed a familiar smile. She smiled as she realised who it was, the proximity making them both a little awkward but a decent excuse for it made it okay.

'Thanks Sasuke…' she whispered letting her eyes close, letting herself sink into his arms and letting herself sink into oblivion.


	26. innocent angel 13

_The boy smiled at his friend as they walked along the dirt road towards her families hamlet, but they weren't heading there. Before they got to the large wooden gates, they came off the path and headed into the cool, green woods, feeling the crunching of old autumn leaves from years gone by. They had been told by someone that there was a river where they could swim not far inside the forest, and today they would be alone, noone would be there: they were all at the Academy._

'_What are we gonna tell Iruka-sensei?__'__ asked the girl with a mischievous smile to her best friend. The boy smirked at her sideways but didn__'__t answer, they both giggled, not wanting to have to answer that neither knew what on earth they were going to tell him._

'_We could forge a sick note.__'__ suggested the boy uncertainly, scratching the side of his face as the girl dodged a tree. She winced a little._

'_Both of us?__'__ she asked, looking over at him with a sceptical expression. __'__He__'__ll never believe us. We__'__re always together, he__'__d be suspicious.__'__ she continued, striking out that idea. There was another long, comfortable pause as they continued to meander further and further into the forest._

'_Did he say __"__turn right at the fat tree__"__ or was it left?__'__ asked the boy as they approached a very stout looking tree which was right in the middle of the tiny woody path. The girl pulled her hair out of her eyes and shrugged, wincing a little as she tried to remember, the boy smiled and chuckled exasperatedly. __'__We__'__ll turn right.__'__ he declared, heading off in that direction, the girl followed._

_A few minutes later they were back again, scratched and a little bruised but giggling as they went past the fat tree and in the other direction._

'_Are we nearly there yet?__'__ asked Mika, smiling at her friend as they continued walking along the wood path. The boy spluttered a laugh and looked at her incredulously as she burst out laughing as well, they giggled crazily and for no apparent reason they started running, taking each others hands as they did so. Soon enough the still giggling children arrived at the edge of a river, but the weeds floating around in it looked foreboding and unpleasant. Mika grimaced at her friend who returned the look._

'_Don__'__t worry,__'__ reassured the boy, smiling at Mika who was still wrinkling her nose at the river. __'__he said that it was better a bit further down.__'__ he told her, stroking her hand._

'_Well let__'__s go then!__'__ she cried, tugging on his hand as she dashed off downstream._

_They leapt over small bushes and brambles, ducked under low hanging branches, dodged trees and other things blocking their path, finally arriving at a clearing where a small dusty beach led down to a small ford like area where they could swim without being washed away by the current. There was so much colour in the different greens, the different shadow effects dancing off leaves and the water which was a beautiful shimmering azure. The dusty beach was almost sparkling in the soft sunlight which was filtering through the dense canopy, shining in subtle greens and gold. Mika turned and grinned at the boy ecstatically, before running out into the clearing and starting to pull off her top, revealing a light blue swimming costume._

_When she__'__d taken her clothes off she turned back to look expectantly at her friend who still haven__'__t moved. She shrugged, an perplexed look on her pretty face, waiting for him to move but he was just watching her quietly, making her feel excruciatingly self aware. He snapped back to reality and hastily tugged off his shirt as she turned back around and started to step gingerly into the cold, clear water. Behind her she heard the sand crunching beneath her friend__'__s toes as he made his way towards her and then the soft splashing of his foot hitting the water._

'_Brrr, it__'__s cold!__'__ exclaimed the girl looking over her shoulder at Blue who was catching up to her as the water reached her knees. She grinned cheesily and rubbed her upper arms as though she was freezing, he returned her grin as he tiptoed closer to her while she waited patiently, holding out her hand. He took it and they waded in until they both had the water up to their torsos, where they grinned at each other sheepishly._

'_We gonna do it then?' asked the boy his face apprehensive of the freezing water lapping at both their chests. Mika glanced at the water before looking back at her friend, and nodded enthusiastically. Their hands squeezed each other nervously before letting their knees buckle and their small bodies be submerged quickly into the icy stream. They came back up again, taking a large gulp of breath each and gritting their teeth against the low temperature and groaning, almost in pain._

'_We're crazy- we shouldn't be doing this- we're gonna catch pneumonia-' cried Mika as she shivered uncontrollably, the grin still fixed in place but her eyes tightly shut. 'We're gonna die!' she finished, giggling and the boy joined in too._

'_Come here.' said the boy through chattering teeth, holding his arms out for her to cuddle up into which she did, wrapping her arms around his waist as they crouched in the cold water, still shivering but the grins were also there._


	27. forsaken angel 14

Mika woke up in the Konoha hospital room, the clean white surroundings making her eyes sore as she tried to tweeze them open and look around through the crusty bits which had tried to seal her eyes closed. She frowned as she turned over again and looked out of the window where the sun was shining through, bouncing off the dust which was floating around benignly, making the light come through in rays.

'Hmmmm…' she moaned as she stretched gently, letting her muscles slowly wake up, giving her a delicious feeling like light pins and needles. She rubbed the right hand side of her face with her numb palm, pressing her eye firmly and feeling the satisfying crunching of tiny bits of dried tears which had settled on her eyelashes.

She looked over to the other side and inspected the other patients in the ward. But she was alone. She rolled onto her back and gazed up at the ceiling, the pale blue paint giving off a very cool sensation, she let her lower jaw drop as she let a huge yawn physically take over her entire body… just as the door opened. She tried to hide her gaping mouth under the quilt as she tried to force her eyes open enough over her giant mouth to see who her visitor was.

'_Damn, it had to be you, didn't it?_' she screamed inside her head as she recognized Sasuke walking slowly towards her bed. Her huge yawn subsided as he got reached her bed, to her great relief, he smiled at her fondly and pulled up a chair.

'Did I wake you?' he asked quietly which she appreciated: her head was aching for some reason. She shook her head as she heaved her body up and sat back against the headboard and brushed her hair out of her face.

'No, I- I just woke up.' she told him, smiling at her friend. She looked awkwardly back over at the window as Sasuke fumbled around behind him before producing a large bunch of slightly battered flowers.

'I-umm…' he started as Mika looked back at him in surprise and adoration. 'I saw these and Uhh… thought of you…' he drifted off as his face burned beetroot. He thrust them at her as though they were red hot and he needed to be rid of them, but the gesture was so touching to the young girl.

'I-Uhh… thanks,' started the girl emotionally, taking the bouquet and smiling gratefully at him. 'Sasuke.' she finished after a moment. They gazed at each other for a moment in silence, comfortable with the pleasant company of each other.

'I'd better…' he gestured vaguely in the direction of the door, making Mika's face fall. 'get… you know… going.' he finished a little lamely. The girl nodded disappointedly as he got to his feet, swinging his arms awkwardly as though he wanted to do something, but decided against it and headed for the door. He pulled it open and turned around, his mouth opening and closing in quick succession as though he wanted to say something. But he closed it firmly and just smiled affectionately before leaving in silence.

Mika watched him go with a disappointed look on her slightly bemused face, she took a deep breath and looked down at the flowers. There were large white lilies alongside flaming red trumpet-like flowers mingled with large, green leaves and emerald foliage. Mika smiled fondly at the thought of Sasuke having chosen this particular bouquet for her and coming to see her, however briefly, to give it to her himself. She lowered her face and took a long intake of breath, letting the sweet perfume waft over her deliciously as her eyes closed to appreciate the scent to the full. She sat up straight again and let her deep hazel eyes open again to gaze at the beautiful display of flowers, all the edges soft and flowing in natural elegance.

Suddenly a white right angle caught her eye. She frowned and slipped her hand gently into the flower arrangement and caught hold of the small piece of cardboard, her tongue between her teeth as she concentrated on not damaging the stunning flora. She held it up to her face, trying to work out whether it was supposed to be there.

'A note?' she asked herself, turning it over and seeing the slinky handwriting. 'Who are you from?' she asked quietly, placing the flowers on her bedside table gently and taking the small piece of cardboard in both hands.

_I'd forgotten how lost I was without you. Sasuke_

Mika smiled to herself without meaning to, at the caring message from a boy who (she'd been told) had been so antisocial. She looked up, wondering how far he had got by now, whether she could still catch him.

She leapt up, throwing the light hospital cover off her lower half and running towards the door, her feet slipping on the shining varnished floor as she raced around the corner, trying to remember the way around the shining corridors. She flashed past other patients who were hobbling around calmly, trying to nurse themselves back to health, past the nurse who squealed a little as she apologized hastily without stopping. She finally found some stairs and leapt down them three at a time, making her way for the door, all the while searching for the dark haired boy with the steely blue eyes and the beetroot blush. She crashed through the doors and into the street which she looked back and forth, up and down the crowded street but she couldn't see him. He had gone. He had slipped through her fingers. Suddenly she realised she was in hospital pyjamas, the light fabric of her trousers fluttering around her ankles, the shirt unbuttoned at the top which she swiftly did up.

She took a deep breath and turned back inside the hospital, blushing as she realised how stupid she looked, looking over her shoulder once more before pushing the door open and walking through it, disappointment carved on her features.


	28. innocent angel 14

'_Come back here, both of you!!!' came the furious screaming voice of uncle Keitaru as they tore away from the stall which was now lying upside down with all his products strewn around in the road. 'I'll get you for this!!!' came his last furious threat as they skidded around the nearest corner._

_Mizu and Mika kept running, adrenaline pumping through their small bodies. Mika loved these times with Mizu: he wasn't always around and he usually hung out with friends his own age, but when he did play with her they had so much fun! And he didn't even treat her like a little kid even though she was two years younger than him. Mizu was Mika's cousin who lived across the hamlet to her, but they hardly ever saw each other because he was always out with his friends pulling pranks on unsuspecting victims… quite often his own father who could never actually catch him and punish him, even though he would have loved to._

_She ran along behind her cousin, trying to force her legs to go faster, trying to keep up with the nine year old who was gradually leaving her behind. She winced as her muscles flared and burned while Mizu dashed ahead of her, she tried to catch up but her was so much bigger than her and his legs were so much longer than hers. He looked over his shoulder and saw her straggling behind and slowed down for her, a friendly smile on his benevolent face._

'_Do ya wanna stop?' he asked as he ran along beside her at her pace, still grinning broadly at her. She nodded pitifully, a grateful smile etched across her young face, so he took her hand and led her down a small side street where he stopped. The young girl leant against the cool brick wall and slid down into a sitting position where she closed her eyes and panted quietly, while Mizu watched her silently. 'You're pretty small, huh?' he asked after a moment. Mika looked up at him slowly, still panting and not daring to speak in case she suffocated, but the older boy just smiled benignly._

_When Mika had caught her breath she stood up again and peered around the corner of the side street they were hiding in, excitement at being a fugitive coursing through her veins. Mizu sniffed uninterestedly._

'_Isn't this exciting?' she asked turning back to grin at him. He shrugged indifferently. 'Why aren't you all… you know… hyper? Like me!' asked the girl, clapping her fingernails together in excitement._

'_I do this all the time.' he told her folding his arms as though he couldn't care less that they were defectors, they were being hunted down by the law… well, her uncle at least. 'It's no big for me.' he added scratching the side of his nose. There was a pause._

'_Do you think they're still after us?' asked the eight year old curiously as she peered around the brick corner again apprehensively._

'_Nah,' answered Mizu dismissively. 'They didn't even start running after us. They don't care. It's not like we stole something, right?' he continued poking her in the back playfully, she shrugged agreement and they came out of their hiding place and started walking leisurely in the other direction. 'Oh yeah,' added the boy sniffing a little. 'you might wanna hide a bit from Otousan.' Mika looked up at him questioningly. 'He'll have it in for you.' he explained with a mischievous smile as he looked down at her. She groaned and winced nervously._

'_Where can I hide?' she asked imploringly, clutching his sleeve. 'Can I hide with you?' she added, watching her older cousin, beseeching him to help her. He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly._

'_I'm not coming home tonight.' he told her without looking at her. They came out into a larger street, but there weren't many people meandering around. Even so, Mika stepped a little closer to her cousin as though someone might leap out and catch her._

'_Where are you going to go?' she asked, glancing around uneasily, still clinging to Mizu's sleeve. 'Where are you going to stay? Why can't I come too?' she asked quickly, gazing up at him almost desperately as she settled down a bit and released his arm._

'_Me and my friends meet up outside the village sometimes.' he told her. 'When we're in trouble we hang out there for a bit… just till the story dies down.' he continued, looking around uninterestedly. In Mikas mind, Mizu was the coolest person in the Village other than Keamon, her other even older cousin, and her best friend. Mizu was very popular in the village, people said he had painful amounts of potential but that he didn't exploit it, however the young girl walking beside him knew that he could use his power better than people thought. He could create four yard high waves from a glass of water, devastating his potential opponents with the power of the fast moving water. She had watched him practising once, hidden away in the forest where the river ran widely through the trees. He had ripped up trees, overturned huge rocks and drained the river in a single flick of a lazy hand, before replacing them with care and attention._

_But here he was; no regard for the other people walking along the street, no respect for his own father, running away just to keep out of Keitarus way. And all this at nearly ten years old. Mika wondered how he would turn out later on in life, whether he would become a decent ninja and uphold the family honour, or whether he would desert his clan and more importantly, his Village._

'_So?' she persisted, unwilling to let it lie. Mizu smiled down at her in the same way a patronising parent would, but Mika grinned up at him. 'Can I come with you?'_

'_I don't think you'll have much fun.' he answered, trying to buy himself some more time to find a decent excuse not to take her. Her gaze didn't waver. 'Well… umm… I guess you can come… but… err… don't you wanna spend tonight with your friend?'_

'_What? Blue?' she asked, pretending she hadn't been thinking of him the whole time she was with Mizu, comparing her cousin to her best friend and finding that she couldn't choose between the two. Suddenly she had a brilliant idea, in fact it was so brilliant she was surprised she thought of it. 'Can he come too?' she asked enthusiastically. Mizu stopped in his tracks, frowning down at his younger cousin exasperatedly, she beamed up at him hopefully._

'_Listen, you're not coming with me and neither is your dumb little friend.' he told her firmly. It wasn't a nasty tone, but it still wiped the smile off of Mika's face faster than it had appeared there, tears began to make her deep hazel eyes shimmer pathetically. Mizu sighed jadedly wracking his brain, trying to find the words to explain in kinder words. 'I'm always in trouble, Mika. I don't want you to get the same reputation as me… it's not cool, you know?' he added shrugging uninterestedly, but smiling amicably at his little cousin. 'You might think it is, but seriously… most of the time when I'm out with the guys sleeping in the middle of nowhere, I wish I was home in my own bedroom.' Mika looked down at the ground miserably, trying not to let her cousin see how disappointed she really was._

_She watched as Mizu's feet turned and started walking away slowly, as though nothing was wrong. Mika looked up in time to watch Mizu sneakily grabbing an apple from a stall and biting into it. The young girl gave a half hearted smile as she watched him walk away without a backwards glance, indifferent to his surroundings yet constantly aware of the events taking place as he passed them by._

_She sighed miserably, watching Mizu disappear around a corner. She felt as though she was going to miss all the fun, she felt as though Mizu was the most fun she could have but he was leaving her; he was deserting her._

'_Hey Mika!!!' came a friendly voice from behind her. She turned around and saw her best friend, Blue, holding up a flour bomb and an armful more weighing him down. He waved the multicoloured balloon full of flour in an affectionate greeting, a grin stretched from ear to ear. Mikas smile grew of it's own accord as she recognized him and affection flooded into her expressions. Within a minute she had forgotten all about her cousin rejecting her and her mind was full of her own little pranks concocted with her best friend._


	29. forsaken angel 15

Later that day Mika was making her way to the designated meeting place, ready to start a new mission with Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Kakashi. The jonin had told her to meet them at the square where she had first met Sakura and Sasuke had had his fit.

The air was heavy with the prospect of a storm ahead and the young girls skin was clammy and damp, making her fringe stick to her forehead uncomfortably. The sky was covered by what looked like a thin layer of cloud which didn't seem very foreboding, but it was dark and the sunlight was having difficulty getting through it while the feeble breeze failed and gave up trying to cool the atmosphere down.

Mika brushed her sticky hair out of her face and tried to cool herself off a bit with her hand, she looked around at her surroundings. As she arrived in the shady square she saw the three genin talking in low hurried voices, frowns across all of their foreheads as they whispered frantically. She took a deep breath and tried to carve a confident smile on her face, trying to calm her teenaged girl nerves, and walked up to the small group of ninja-in-training. As soon as she got within hearing range they stopped their frenetic whispering and turned towards her, the two boys grinning guiltily and Sakura crossed her arms, her face still hard.

'Good morning, Mika!' exclaimed Naruto, a little too loud to be natural. Mika tried to smile naturally, but she was painfully aware that it came out wrong: she was too conscious of the fact that they had been talking about her less than a minute ago. 'Did you… uhh… have a nice time in the… uhh… hospital?' he finished slightly sheepishly, scratching his left arm with his right hand.

'Well the room service was a bit shoddy, but on the whole it wasn't too bad.' she answered amicably, trying not to let Sakuras glare put her off… and finding it very difficult. 'It sure was better than having Rock Lees leg in my stomach!' she finished making Naruto laugh and Sasuke smile at her (**well he's not gonna roll around on the floor now, is he???**), but Sakuras frown stuck resolutely to her wide forehead.

'It was quite flattering, I thought.' piped up the green eyed girl frostily, making the three others stop smiling and Mika blush as she averted her eyes from the menacing girl. They stood in silence as Naruto, Sasuke and Mika tried to find a decent conversation to start.

'So, umm…' started Mika awkwardly, feeling a little on the venomous side. 'What were you guys talking about when I arrived?' she asked, looking from one genin to the next hoping to make them all feel uncomfortable. She watched in satisfaction as the colour drained silently away from the blond boys face, Sasuke looked down at his feet without a word, and Sakuras cheeks suddenly flared up into a bright red and her left eye started twitching. 'I take it you were talking about me.' she finished in nothing more than a low mumble.

'NO! NO!!!' cried out Naruto taking her by the upper arm and shaking his head vigorously. 'We were… uhh… talking about… uhh… Sakura's shampoo.' he finished after a sufficiently embarrassing moment while he searched in desperation for an uncomfortable topic. Mika frowned at him curiously before turning to look at Sakura who's face was blank, but when she saw Mika looking at her enquiringly she quickly adopted her usual frown which she seemed to reserve for pieces of dog poo and Mika. Sasuke was also an empty book as he watched Naruto, expecting an answer to the question on all of their lips. 'She was just reminding me of the time she and I were trying to catch up to Sasuke, who was fighting Gaara by the way, and this dog was with us… he was called Pakkun… still is in fact-'

'Okay Naruto!' cried Sakura suddenly, grabbing him by the neck and pulling him backwards. 'I don't think we have to hear the whole story…' Naruto struggled free of the girls grip, coughed a bit and then continued.

'Anyway, before I was so _rudely_ interrupted…' he continued, glaring at the pink haired girl begrudgingly. Sakura hastily turned around and tried to walk away, but Naruto continued before she could get very far. 'Pakkun told us that Sakura and him use the same shampoo.' he finished beaming proudly at his quick thinking. Mika burst out laughing, clutching her stomach and wiping away the tears which were leaking out of her deep brown eyes.

'You smell like a dog!!!' she cried, pointing at Sakura who was fuming at Naruto furiously. Sasukes face was pulled into a sort of half smile as Sakura's face went even redder than it had been before.

'Really?' he asked, not daring to believe what he heard. 'Did Pakkun really tell you that you use the same shampoo?' Sakura glowered at Naruto, wishing he would die right then, right there.

'Umm… no…' she said quietly, but the damage was done and the secret would be stored in the young peoples minds forever. (_inner Sakura: Cha!!! I hate you Naruto!!! I _will_ get my revenge!!! You will fear my wrath!!!_)

'Hey wait…' said Mika suddenly, picking herself up from where she had fallen to her knees on the hard cement. 'it was a talking dog?' she asked, rubbing her sore tummy and looking curiously at Naruto and Sasuke.

'He's the leader of Kakashi's dog pack.' explained the dark haired boy still smirking at Sakura. 'And yes. He can talk, but he's the only one.' he finished, turning to smile at the girl with the brown eyes. Mika smiled at him, trying to hide the fact that her knees had just gone weak again, trying to hide that she was crazy about this boy.

She gazed at him dreamily as he looked over his shoulder, saying something about Kakashi always being late, his dark hair fluttering elegantly with the movement of his head, his steely blue eyes frowning off into the distance as he scoured the horizon for their sensei. She wished she could just go up to him and throw herself into his arms, run her fingers through his hair, over his lips and cheeks, but her daydream was destroyed as Sakura leant closer to her and started whispering menacingly in her ear.

'Back off.' she hissed threateningly, Mika frowned and turned her eyes to glare at her. 'He is off limits. He is mine.' she finished swaying back to her original position, arms folded and frown painfully set on her forehead.

'Tell him that.' replied the girl with the plum coloured hair, frowning right back at her opponent. 'Doggy hair.' she added, smiling maliciously. Sasuke turned around and smiled at Mika who smiled back sweetly, trying to hide the blush which was crawling across her cheeks, and stepped forwards to stand beside him, letting her arm rub gently against his. When Sasuke had looked away again, searching for Kakashi, she looked over her shoulder at Sakura and raised a taunting eyebrow at her, the smug smile still carved on her face. Sakura fumed.

Suddenly, as Mika looked back out in the same direction as Sasuke, they noticed a green shape making it's way swiftly towards them. Mika groaned.

'Does he want to beat me up again?' she thought aloud, making the boy beside her smile fondly at her and nudge her affectionately. 'He can't seriously want a rematch… can he?' she asked looking up at her friend who shrugged silently, watching Rock Lees hurried progress. 'Do you think we could just… you know… sneak off? Do you think it's too late?' she asked, taking Sasukes sleeve desperately. Suddenly there was a flash of light, she was in exactly the same position but instead of clinging onto Sasuke, she saw a young boy, a couple of years older than her probably, with dark blue hair and a lighter streak across the fringe, one of his eyes crimson and the other sky blue. He was smiling down at her patronisingly as she begged him for something.

'Mika?' she was brought back to reality by Rock Lees voice as he tried to tell her something. She blinked in the sunlight and jumped as Lees face swam into focus in front of her eyes. 'I wanted to apologize for my conduct yesterday, and I am very sorry my foot nearly got stuck in your… person.' He smiled at her agreeably, trying to show his honesty. The surprised girl glanced up at Sasuke, whose sleeve she was still clutching, then back at the boy with the scary eyebrows and smiled uncertainly.

'I…uhh' she started, but she couldn't find any words to say… she had nothing to say. 'Thank you… I guess.' she managed, shrugging uneasily.

'I was told by someone that you wanted to take Sasuke-kun away from us.' he explained sheepishly, his friendly smile still covering his mouth. 'And that you challenged a friend of mine.' he finished, briefly glancing over Mika's shoulder.

'I don't remember challenging anyone…' said Mika, frowning as she tried to wrack her brains as to whether she had or not, but she couldn't remember confronting anybody.

'Ino confronted you, but you haven't defied anybody.' said Sasuke frowning down at her in thought before gazing at Lee with uninterested intimidation.

Lee was silent, but his mind was clearly racing as he gazed down at the ground, his face hard. The prospect of someone lying to him, using him, not a pleasant prospect. He looked up and stared over Mika's shoulder again. Naruto let out a soft "oh" of comprehension.

'Sakura, I will speak with you later.' he said firmly. Mika and Sasuke turned around simultaneously and saw Sakura waving her arms wildly, before stopping abruptly when she saw them looking, a guilty grin covering her usually pretty face. 'Good luck on your mission.' finished the boy with the scary fashion sense before turning and walking back the way he came.

Naruto, Mika and Sasuke all glared at Sakura incredulously as Kakashi arrived, apologizing half heartedly for his tardiness, but no one was listening to him.


	30. innocent angel 15

'_After class I wanna show you something, okay?' said the dark haired boy, looking expectantly over at Mika who was practising the transformation jutsu, her face scrunched up as she concentrated hard. She made a small noise of recognition, but didn't respond any more than that. 'I found it the other day but we haven't had time to show you yet.' he continued, creating three clones of himself. She made the dog, boar and tiger hand seals, her face still creased up in concentration. There was a puff of smoke and where Mika had been standing stood a perfect replica of her best friend. She looked up and down her newly male body proudly, pulling at the t-shirt which she was so used to seeing on him and which was now on her._

'_Why haven't you had time to show me yet?' she asked, smiling over at one of his clones which disappeared in another puff of smoke. She looked around and found the original and they both giggled at her mistake._

'_Well… I had to train with Niisan.' he explained, shrugging as though it wasn't a big deal but Mika looked at him sceptically._

'_Then technically it's your fault.' she told him, still smiling. The boy was a little bemused to find himself talking to himself, except that "himself" had all the little habits which belonged to Mika: the way she pushed her hair out of her face, the way she held herself, the way she smiled._

'_Sorry.' he said, smiling back at her. There was a pause. 'It's really weird talking to me.' he told her after a moment. She grinned at him happily._

'_Wouldn't it be fun if we were twins?' she asked suddenly, her eyes wide with excitement at the many possibilities. But the boys face fell: he felt very strangely about Mika being his sister. She was his best friend, not his sister… that would be weird._

'_That would be weird.' he told her, wincing awkwardly and shrugging one shoulder. She thought for a moment and shrugged agreement, starting an awkward silence._

'_Okay young man,' started the teacher as he made his way in between the two identical nearly eight year old children. Both Mika and her friend looked up at him expectantly, but he turned to Mika before continuing. 'Your progress is very good. Nearly as good as your brother!' he added, knowing how to make the boy feel really good about himself. 'But you've got to start being a bit more social. That's the only thing I want you to do. Is that alright?' the brown haired man looked down at Mika who was still watching him in the boys form, and he blinked. He scratched his scarred nose, looked over his shoulder at the original and smiled, before turning back to Mika. 'Mika.' the girl scowled. 'You have got to work on your precision.' he told her with a friendly smile on his face before a puff of smoke revealed a grumpy looking girl with plum coloured hair._

'_How come?' she asked, folding her arms moodily. The man knelt down to her level and put his hand on her shoulder as she continued to glower at him resentfully._

'_Your little friend has blue eyes.' he pointed out, motioning to the boy with his head. 'And his hair isn't that long.' The boy lifted his hand to feel the length of his hair, comparing it to his friends length. 'As I said, you've got to work on it. But you're coming along very nicely. You're at about the same level Yama was at your age.' Mika growled in frustration._

'_Iruka sensei!!!' came a young boys voice from the other end of the practise field making the man stand up and make his way towards the voice. Mika stuck her tongue out at his back huffily._

'_I saw that.' came his voice from the distance, making the girl blush irritably._

'_I thought you looked just like me.' said the boy reassuringly, smiling fondly at his best friend who returned the smile._


	31. forsaken angel 16

'Right,' started Kakashi once he had managed to get their attention. 'our mission today is to help out on a farm.' this statement was met with groans from the original team seven, while Mika smiled broadly.

'We helped out on a farm just the other day.' groaned Naruto miserably. 'Can't we do something more interesting this time?' he asked.

'Well maybe this time you'll have a decent adventure with a sheep or something.' answered the jonin smiling knowingly. Naruto folded his arms grumpily with a small "humph".

'Why don't you wanna help out on a farm?' asked Mika disbelieving. 'That's way cool! The best thing we had to do was bodyguard some dude as he crossed the village. AND we even had to fight with some other guy who was pissed off at the first guy.' she told them as though it was a relief to be doing the farm work.

'Wait.' started Kakashi slowly, curiosity etched on his handsome face. 'You did B rank missions as genin?' he asked gazing at her steadily. She nodded silently, wondering why he was so intrigued. 'Hmmm.' he said, closing his eyes and scratching his chin pensively.

'But they were only D ranked missions in my village.' she explained, trying to remind them that she was average. 'It's weird that our villages have different versions of the ratings.' She looked over at Sasuke for agreement but he just shrugged, she glanced at Sakura but she was still glowering with a furious aura about her.

'We've been on an A rank mission!' exclaimed Naruto proudly, grinning at her as he tried to impress her. 'And Sasuke died!!!' he added, again with pride etched in his raspy voice. Mika's brown eyes widened in surprise as her head snapped around to stare at the blond boy, the side of her mouth twitching nervously.

'I came back.' said the boy in question, frowning at Naruto defensively. 'I'm here, remember?' he added as Mika tore her shocked eyes away from Naruto and placed them gently onto Sasuke who had a large fake smile on his face. 'I only died trying to protect Naruto.' he pointed out regaining his usual moody posture.

'I let you protect me.' retorted the blond boy stick up for himself. 'I could have taken Haku myself any time.' The two boys glowered at each other menacingly, electricity sizzling between them.

'Right, well if you guys have nearly finished,' interrupted the sensei clearing his throat uninterestedly, exasperated by their childishness. 'we might wanna get going.' he continued, turning to show his students the way to their next mission.

Mika's face had just got back to normal as she watched the other three start after Kakashi, Naruto muttering to himself under his breath about having to have some ramen when he got there. Sasuke stopped and turned to look at Mika who was still looking after them, having stayed put, with an anxious look on her face. He smiled kind-heartedly and held out a friendly hand for her to take, she ran down the steps to where he was and took the offered hand, blushing profusely as she did so. They walked on a few yards behind the others, hand in hand, silently but something was still bugging Mika.

'I know you guys weren't talking about Sakura's hair earlier.' she said quietly without looking at him. She watched him take a deep breath through the corner of her eye and waited for an answer.

'I didn't- I thought-' he stuttered uncomfortably trying to find something to say but she turned to gaze at him steadily, her deep hazel eyes imploring him to tell her the truth. He sighed, knowing he was defeated. 'You know we were talking about you, right?' he asked looking over at her, suddenly devastatingly aware of her small warm hand nestled in his.

'You were?' she asked in a sarcastic tone, making an obviously fake shocked expression on her face and putting her hand up to her face in the same manner. He smiled down at her in exasperated fondness.

'Well… umm… Sakura was trying to convince us that you're actually trying to take over the world.' he said quickly, hoping that by doing so it would all go away faster.

'Who says I'm not?' joked the girl with the plum coloured hair, worrying that her hand was sweating inside his and making him uncomfortable. Sasuke chortled quietly while Mika smiled at her own joke.

'I know you too well to believe you.' he told her, still smiling at her affectionately. She smiled guiltily, choosing not to say anything to that last comment and keep the comfortably friendly atmosphere between them alive. 'That must have sounded really weird for you.' he said after a moment, breaking the contented silence which had just settled between them. Mika didn't say anything: yes it had been weird, but she was willing to ignore her curiosity just to be with him. 'You don't remember it, but you and I were inseparable when we were little. Until the… you know… _event_.'

'We were best friends.' she repeated quietly, watching the road as they slowly walked through the gates of Konoha following Kakashi, Sakura and Naruto. 'Maybe that's why we get on so well now.' she said smiling at the dark eyed boy walking beside her, holding her hand gently, who smiled back at her.

'Probably.' he answered quietly, looking ahead at his team mates backs. 'It's weird cos' I wanna talk about things that happened before. I wanna take you to places we used to know… I wanna-' he stopped himself as his handsome face fell. Mika waited expectantly for the rest, for him to tell her about what they used to do, where they used to play, etc… 'But I can't.' he said finally, disappointment etched in his voice.

'Please,' started the girl with a friendly smile. 'tell me about those times.' he looked over at her silently, she nodded and he smiled, ready to tell her about all the fun they had had together.


	32. innocent angel 16

_Later that day, when the two young friends had escaped the grasps of their teacher and run off, they headed towards the forest where the young boy had told Mika his discovery was to be found. They walked along, chatting amicably, their hands entwined in comfortable friendship._

'_I thought you looked just like me earlier.' he told her for the millionth time. 'Besides, he said that you're about the same level as Yama was at your age.' he added smiling at her reassuringly._

'_That's the whole problem.' she whined miserably. 'I want to be better than him!' she explained, moving her arms around energetically tugging his left arm with her right, making him wince. 'Sorry. You know if I ever want to show him that I am just as good as him I've got to be better than him! Cos otherwise he'll never believe me.' she continued._

'_It's okay, you know.' answered the boy inspecting his aching wrist, moving it gingerly around. 'You'll show him. When we're both ANBU together, and he's still only a jonin.' he continued smiling at her and taking her hand again. She smiled back at him, comforted._

'_Yeah.' she conceded, pleased at the idea. 'Then he'll be sorry. I could beat up his sorry ass.' she said evilly, making them both giggle at her rudeness._

_They walked along in companionable silence, past his house, past her house and into the cool, shady woods. They walked past the turning where Mika knew those slimy mollusc-like things were probably still lurking, they walked past the fork in the road where she knew that, if she were to take the right fork, she would end up at the river. Before long the tiny, leafy path they had been following, which had been difficult to see at best, disappeared completely and the two young children had to watch where they were putting their feet so as not to trip over the undergrowth which was becoming more and more dense with every step they took. But Blue seemed to know where he was heading, he was pulling her along behind him, squeezing her hand reassuringly as he pulled her deeper and deeper into the dark forest. After a while they came to what looked like a wall of vegetation, brambles hanging down limp from some unseen hanger to which they were clutching, vines entwining themselves around the other pieces of foliage dangling there, small white flowers dotted around looking out of place in the mass of different greens._

_At this time, Blue turned around with a large grin on his face, hope and excitement in his deep, steely blue eyes as he beamed at Mika expectantly. She smiled uncertainly, not knowing what to expect. He couldn't seriously be expecting her to climb that, did he? _

'_Close your eyes, Mika.' he said quietly, excitement etched in his voice but his face was an image of calmness and mellowness. The girl with the plum coloured hair raised a sceptical eyebrow, but his smile made her sigh exasperatedly and slowly closed her deep hazel eyes…_


	33. forsaken angel 17

Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Mika worked hard on the farm, mucking out horses, feeding the pigs, brushing down cows, washing sheep and other chores which involved livestock, so by six o'clock they were all exhausted.

'Dinner will be at half past seven.' declared the old farmer who was lacking considerably in the teeth and hygiene departments. 'If you're late you won't get any.' Naruto groaned.

'I'm so tired…' he moaned from his position lying on the floor. 'I think I'm gonna die of exhaustion.'

'_I think I'm gonna die of hunger_.' thought Sakura trying to stifle her rumbling tummy. 'Quit complaining, Naruto. You've always got something to say.' she snapped moodily. She looked to her left and saw Mika and Sasuke whispering a few yards away, she narrowed her eyes as Sasuke smiled, wrinkling the top of his nose making him, if possible, even sexier. 'What do you think they're talking about?' asked the pink haired girl not taking her eyes off of the happy couple.

'Huh?' mumbled Naruto sitting up and looking over at his team mate and the newcomer. 'I don't know. Maybe they're talking about us.' he suggested shrugging uninterestedly, but he noticed Sakura bristle. 'I err… I don't think so though… what would they be saying about us?' he added, hoping this would put her off. He watched as she sighed unhappily.

'Why did _she_ have to come along?' she asked miserably, looking down at the ground below her feet, shuffling her left one and making the dust flutter a little.

A few yards away a girl with plum coloured hair and a boy with raven hair were snickering, trying not to laugh out loud.

'And then Nekura fell into the hole instead of Yuri!' she continued, finishing a long and funny story about a wild party she had been to back in the Village Hidden in the Grass. They snickered even harder, trying to hold in the laughter which was burning in their throats, Mikas hands pressing against her lips as she tried to force them to stay shut.

'And so she got covered in…?' asked the dark eyes boy, pointing vaguely at Mika who nodded frantically, unable to answer with words as she battled with the giggles.

It took several minutes to calm down but they did, wiping away tears from their fit, and brushing hair out of their eyes. They caught their breath in silence, looking out over the large farmyard, watching chickens scratching and pecking benignly as the sun slowly set behind them.

'So tell me more about what we used to get up to.' said Mika after a while, gazing expectantly at Sasuke who smiled with the memories of times forgotten. 'We got up to a whole load of mischief, right? Well come on! Spill!' she persisted, smiling expectantly.

'Okay… umm… did I tell you about the time we stole Yamas forehead protector?' he asked, looking at the girl for an answer. She shook her head energetically. 'Well, Yama was your big brother. He was…' there was a pause while Sasuke thought. 'seven years older than you, I think… and anyway, when we were about… umm… five I think, we nicked his forehead protector and we both tried it on. Then when he realised it was gone we'd already hidden it in the woods.' The two best friends broke into another fit of giggles as Mika imagined the scene and Sasuke relived it in their minds.

They heard a bell ringing and got up, heading off to the dining room where they were to be fed. As they got closer, Sakura muscled her way in between Mika and Sasuke, simpering at the dark haired boy and glowering at the brown eyed girl. Mika rolled her eyes and sat between Naruto and Kakashi who both smiled at her amicably in reply to her own friendly gesture. On the table they found five small bowls of rice, five bread rolls and five boiled eggs. Kakashi sighed disappointedly at the meagre amount of food.

'We apologize for such a poor meal after such a hard day.' came a friendly female voice from the doorway. The five companions all looked around curiously to find a stout old woman with her hair pulled back into a bun smiling apologetically at them.

Suddenly there was a flash of light and Mika was looking up at an old woman whose eyes were all scrunched up in her mean-looking face, and her hair pulled up into almost the exact same sort of bun.

'But we were robbed not very long ago, and have been finding it hard to make ends meet.' came the woman's voice as though it was far away. Mika snapped back to reality in time to hear her new sensei ask by whom. 'Oh they were two very strange men… not very old… in their teens I think… they were both wearing long black cloaks with red markings on them.' there was a pause while the small group of workers took in this information. 'They were kind enough to let us live.' she added quietly, wringing her wrinkled and pockmarked hands. 'They took both my sons lives.' she finished, her old voice breaking at the sore memory of her late sons.

'That's the only reason we need help from you lot.' came the husbands sharp voice as he came up behind the woman, putting his arm tenderly around her shoulder, she pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed it at her eyes.

'We're very sorry for your loss.' said Kakashi, breaking the silence with his quiet, comforting voice. 'Tomorrow we'll finish the work and not demand food.' he promised, making Naruto's jaw drop as he snapped his head around to stare at him incredulously.

'You are very kind, and we accept your offer.' replied the husband before he and his wife took a bow, leaving team seven (and Mika) alone to eat their tiny supper.

'That description sounded like Itachi.' said Sasuke quietly, stabbing a boiled egg and dragging a bowl of rice towards him. Mika noticed Naruto and Sakura exchanging a nervous glance, and Kakashi put his chopsticks down. She sighed, feeling distinctly out of the loop.

'It probably wasn't, Sasuke.' said the jonin soothingly, but Mika noticed he didn't pick up his chopsticks again. 'I forbid you to go out looking for trouble.' he added, seeing the young boys expression of hatred creep across his face. Neither of them ate anything, but simply watched the others eat their inadequate meal.

After they had finished, the kindly old woman accompanied the small group of shinobi to a room which was divided in half by a thin paper slide, the likes of which one would expect to find between a dining room and a kitchen. Sakura groaned as she saw how far from the ground it was, enabling anyone who was lying down to see underneath onto the other side. Mika glanced at Sasuke discreetly, naughty thought racing through her mind, but she shook her head and pushed them out.

'Don't worry Sakura.' reassured Kakashi smiling at her as she looked over at him despairingly. 'I'll make sure the boys don't watch you sleeping.' she glanced at Sasuke who was putting down his rucksack on a thin looking mattress lying on the dusty floor. 'Even him.' added the jonin, noticing her wandering eyes and raising a contemptuous eyebrow. She blushed and walked over to another thin looking mattress on the other side of the blind and knelt down on it, wincing as her knees went straight through and hit the hard floor.

Mika made her way over to the last free mattress on the girls side and put her bag down, sighing at the thought of what Sakura would do to her once she was asleep. She chuckled to herself at the thought of waking up with a giant moustache painted onto her upper lip in permanent marker pen, or eyebrows á-la Rock Lee, or even all her hair cut off. She reached up and ran her fingers through her hair which felt horribly like straw from the hard work and wondered whether cutting it all off would be a good idea, she looked over at the pink haired girl and inspected her hair, imagining herself with that length hair.

'What?' asked Sakura harshly, having noticed Mika staring at her hair. Mika opened and closed her mouth in quick succession, trying to find something to say to her without sounding like a psycho.

'Does your hair feel like straw?' she asked, hoping Sakura was the kind of girl who took a lot of care of her hair and wouldn't mind Mika asking for tips. 'Because mine does.' she added, seeing the green eyed girl bristle.

'No.' she replied shortly, the hatred for Mika audible in her usually sweet voice. 'But yours always looks like that anyway.' she added poisonously.

'Now, now Sakura.' came Kakashi's voice from the other side of the blind as they heard scuffling and a bit of straining. 'Sasuke, calm down…' came the jonins voice again, this time straining against something. Mika knelt down and looked under the visor only to see Sasuke fighting against Kakashi, trying to get to the girls side of the room.

'You're too clingy.' came Naruto's voice as his feet shuffled around on the other side of the screen. Sasuke's form suddenly decided to go for Naruto instead, and Kakashi obviously decided that this was a better idea than the first and released the dark haired boy.

Mika sat up again grinning and noticed Sakura also with her face pressed against the floor, watching the boys' progress as they tumbled around on their side. She sat down on her flimsy mattress which felt strangely like straw and started unpacking her bag. A lock of her plum coloured hair fell down in front of her brown eyes and she noticed how bad it looked, she took it in her hand and rubbed it between her index finger and thumb, feeling the dry texture. She got to her feet and made her way to the exit, pushing the heavy curtain out of the way and out into the cool night air while the others got ready for a rather uncomfortable looking bed.

Once outside, she looked around in search of a fountain in which she could wash her hair, she scoured the horizon for such a thing, and soon enough spotted what looked like a drinking fountain. Deciding that it would have to do, she sighed and started walking towards it, tiptoeing over the dusty earth as she made perfectly sure she wasn't stepping in anything… (**ahem **) unsightly. When she got to it she turned the tap and cold water gushed messily out, showering her feet and making her leap backwards in surprise as the tiny hairs all over her body stood on end from the sudden freeze. She flicked her hair over her head so that she was upside down and thrust her whole head under the bitter stream, gritting her teeth to stop them chattering. When she was sure that her hair was completely soaked (which took a lot longer than she had hoped and expected), she moved backwards out of the flow and threw her head backwards making her long hair follow and splatter everything within a five yard radius. Mika shook her head while trying to ignore her teeth which were chattering painfully, pulled her hairbrush out of her shuriken holder (she always kept it there for just such an occasion!) (**clever girl!**) and started pulling it through her plum coloured hair.

'Wasn't that cold?' came a familiar voice behind her suddenly. Mika snapped around to see Sasuke smiling at her good-naturedly… with no shirt on. The young girls hands suddenly started shaking and her brush fell to the ground with a small thump, making her let out a small "oh", and bend over to pick it up. She could feel her cheeks burning as she tried not to look at him, she was grateful for the darkness around them, masking her embarrassment.

'Umm… yeah, it was… it was very…uhh… very…' she couldn't help herself, she fought hard but her eyes darted up and fixed on his bare chest, making her hiccough. '…cool…' she finished in a sort of dreamy tone.

He chucked, knowing what she was looking at and put his right hand on his left elbow, thus hiding part of his naked torso, but Mika noticed his cheeks go a little darker as he blushed in the dark too. They both laughed awkwardly in the silence which had fallen around them.

'I'd better… umm…' started Mika, pointing vaguely towards the room again, reminding her of the other day in the hospital. 'you know… go to bed…' Sasuke made a noise of recognition, nodding awkwardly as Mika started towards the curtain which was the entrance to their room. But as she walked past him, he took her hand and looked straight at her.

'Umm… could you move your bed to right at the back of the room, right next to the blind please?' he asked her, still gripping her hand tightly but not so tight as to be painful. 'Next to mine?' he added blushing again, his eyes darting to the ground and back to her face in quick succession.

'Sure…' answered Mika nodding, a friendly smile creeping over her beetroot coloured face. He mirrored the smile (blush included), and Mika expected him to let her go and for him to go and wash his face but he did something completely different.

Everything suddenly slowed right down, as though someone had pressed half speed on a movie, Mika watched as Sasuke closed his eyes slowly and felt as though she was going to fall over. He leant forwards and gently placed his lips on her cheek, making the young girl hiccough again and her deep hazel eyes widen in surprise. She felt the soft contact on her cold skin, smelt his faint musky smell around her, and his presence taking over her. It wasn't the first time a boy had kissed her, but it was certainly the one she would remember for the rest of her life.

It was over so quickly, but the impact was stronger than Lee's punch in her fight against him a day or so ago, she almost fell over when he let go of her arm and walked off towards the fountain, still in slow motion. In a sort of daze, the young girl with plum coloured hair turned and made her way back to the doorway, pushed the heavy curtain out of the way and went it, her eyes still wide with shock and ecstasy.

Sakura snorted at the dumb grin which had sneakily crept onto Mika's lips, but Mika didn't care.

**Okay, sorry I haven't uploaded in a while but this damn website (I didn't mean that!!! simpers at the administration of won't seem to let me upload stuff... and so this is the latest I've been able to put something up!!! O.o Read and Review please!!! Could do with some appreciation!! **


	34. innocent angel 17

'_Close your eyes, Mika.' he said quietly, excitement etched in his voice but his face was an image of calmness and mellowness. The girl with the plum coloured hair raised a sceptical eyebrow, but his smile made her sigh exasperatedly and slowly closed her deep hazel eyes…_

_She felt the boy take her hand and gently place it on his shirt, inviting her to take hold of it which she did while keeping her eyes tight shut and feeling a little stupid. She felt him start to move forwards and could hear the distinct sound of foliage being moved around, probably being pushed out of the way as she was tugged along, clutching the fabric of his T-shirt for dear life._

_The boy led her slowly through the small opening, holding the branches out of the way and putting his hand on her soft head to make sure she didn't bang it on the low ceiling of the dark tunnel. He kept glancing over his shoulder to make sure she was alright and he smiled as he noticed the nervous expression on her pretty face, her small gloved hands grasping his dark blue top timidly. Again that strange yet familiar feeling took a hold of his stomach, making the muscles therein clench uncomfortably, and making him desperately want to take her hand again. But he didn't. He restrained himself, just as his father had told him. They came to the end of the dark and low tunnel, and the young boy moved the curtain of plant life out of the way, so as to lead Mika through into his newly found secret place, pricking his finger slightly as he did so._

_He led the girl out into the light, watching her move her head around as the light hit her eyelids, her shiny plum coloured hair fluttering with the movement. The boy tenderly prised her hand away from his shirt and placed her gently beside him where she stood quite still, the worried look still etched in her even features. He took a deep breath, trying to steady his racing heart._

'_Okay Mika.' he said quietly, watching her every move intently. 'Open your eyes.' Blue watched as Mika's deep hazel eyes slowly opened and almost immediately her lips parted in a gasp of surprise as she saw where she was. They were standing on the edge of a beautiful clearing covered in long, luscious green grass dotted with wild flowers, at the far end of the small clearing there was a small stream flowing quietly into what looked a bit like a pond except that the water didn't stop in the pond but escaped off into the stream again, a weeping willow's vines hung lazily in the light water creating small ripples which seeped through the calm water only to disappear into the waves of the stream. From one of the willows branches hung an old tyre which was swinging slightly over the water, leaving it's reflection like an old memory on the surface._

_Mika let out a small giggle of pleasure, making a large group of multicoloured butterflies take flight and flutter up into the air around the two children who watched them with smiles across their young faces. The boy looked over at the girl dreamily, thrilled that his surprise pleased her so much, her lips stretched into a huge, delighted smile as she watched the butterflies fluttering about above her head. Blue tore his dark eyes away from her face and looked up at the colourful insects, their shapes blurred by their swift movements into a whir of colour._

_Suddenly he felt something soft and gentle touch his fingers delicately, shaking a little with nerves. He glanced down and saw Mika's gloved hand brushing against his, her pale fingers peeking out at the end stroking his uncertainly. He looked back up at her face and saw her smiling uncertainly at him, her deep hazel eyes emitting tentative waves of friendship… and possibly… Was that something else hiding just behind her eyes? A longing for more? Blue watched as she looked back up at the fluttering butterflies as they flickered around, slowly calming down from their fright, he felt as her small index finger tentatively entwined with his linking them subtly._

_Suddenly she giggled and pulled him by his finger up to the willow tree, where she sat in the tyre and let herself swing out over the calm water, looking down at it in glee as she did so, giggling excitedly all the while. After a bit she got bored of the swing, and she and Blue ran around chasing the butterflies which had settled in the long grass again, making clouds of shimmering colour fly up from the overgrown jade coloured grass. But soon enough all the butterflies had taken flight and they searched for a new form of entertainment, which Mika promptly found._

_She threw her arms out and started spinning on the spot, getting faster and faster as she went, her face beaming as she went round and round seeing her best friends progress only in fleeting glimpses. He was spinning in the other direction, his arms out and his eyes closed, a huge grin on his young face. Every now and then they'd let out an excited cry as they nearly fell over or if their hands banged together, briefly slowing them down before they immediately took up their spinning again. The two eight year olds shrieked over-excitedly as they nearly collided, making the girl lose her balance and fall down onto the soft grass, swiftly followed by the boy a little less than a yard away. They sat for a moment, their heads spinning and their hearts racing, completely out of breath but their smiles were still glued to their faces as ever._

_The boy watched as Mika's chest heaved up and down as she gasped for breath; the same as him; her eyes sparkling in excitable youth and intimacy; the same as him; and yet again there was something more, something she was trying to control but was finding it difficult to… he could feel it too. He didn't know what he was feeling… he didn't know what he wanted… he wanted… her. Both of their smiles had faded a little now as incomprehension flooded their tiny bodies, they knew what they wanted. They knew they both wanted the same thing… but…_

_Before they could think about it too much, they were both leaning forwards, towards each other, their eyes slowly closing. Their tiny lips touched in a moment of complete terror and yet complete relief, their eyes wide for a moment when the boy watched Mika let her eyelids lower over her stunning brown eyes before closing his too. They could feel each others warmth radiating off of their hot faces, their heartbeats racing with the same rhythm of panic, each others soft lips pressed against them._

_After what seemed like no time at all they broke apart, breathing deeply as their hearts pumped so fast they were almost at exploding point, gazing at each other uncertainly. Slowly and tentatively a smile crept onto Mika's pretty face, swiftly followed by a beetroot coloured blush and a sheepish expression. The boy grinned back at her, the same sort of colour taking over his face too, before he leant forwards and placed a hand behind the back of her head, gently pulling her back into his embrace._


	35. forsaken angel 18

The next day was almost as bad as the first, with the exception that they weren't working with animals: they were carting animal food around, cleaning out the water dispenser making Mika's hair stand on end at the amount of dirt inside the metal fountain, and many other chores.

At six o'clock they had finished and were, if possible, even more exhausted than the day before. Naruto was complaining bitterly as usual, Sakura was keeping herself to herself, and even Sasuke and Mika had stopped their constant chatting. Kakashi bid the farmer and his wife goodbye and led the young group out of the farmyard, dragging their bags along on the dusty ground behind them unenthusiastically. Even Mika had decided that she preferred her old missions to this… and she let them know this on frequent occasions.

They were walking along the woodland road slowly, Naruto dragging along at the back, in silence. Mika noticed her new sensei glancing over his shoulder at them repeatedly, a nervous look on his handsome face. She frowned to herself, wondering whether he was just worried for their tiredness or whether there was something more going on. The young girl glanced over at Sasuke who was also frowning down at the ground, she caught his eye and glanced at the man in front of them; Sasuke nodded, aware of what she meant and letting her know that he had noticed too. Suddenly the jonin stopped and put his hands on their shoulders, looking down at them severely.

'Sakura, Naruto. You two go on ahead.' he told the other two firmly, making sure they wouldn't contradict them. 'I'll catch up to you guys in a minute.' Naruto and Sakura glanced at each other, then at Mika and Sasuke before walking past them slowly, uncertain looks on both their faces. When they were out of earshot but not quite out of view, Kakashi turned back to the couple still present. 'Okay, you both noticed me looking back at you two.' He started, lowering his voice in an ominous way. 'I wasn't checking up on you guys.' he continued.

'Well that was obvious.' interrupted Sasuke rebelliously. Kakashi sighed.

'Someone is following us.' he continued, glancing over his shoulder at Naruto and Sakura who were almost out of sight. 'And I want you two to go and check them out.' Mika's eyes widened in fear, but Sasuke smiled at the prospect of some action. 'They're definitely more than one, but I don't think there are more than three. They won't be watching out for you, because you're going back to the farm because you forgot something. Can you guys handle it, or am I going to have to tell the others and put everyone on red alert?' he asked, looking from one nervous face to the other excited one. Sasuke nodded determinedly, but Mika's pretty face was still indecisive.

'I'm not sure I can handle it.' she said quietly, glancing from Sasuke to her new sensei hesitantly. 'I- I'm not very good, you know… I'm average!'

'Not many people have taken Rock Lee on, Mika.' said Kakashi reassuringly, with a friendly smile just visible through his mask. 'Admittedly you did lose, but you put up a good fight. I believe you can do this.'

'But-' she tried to convince him otherwise, but he was having nothing of it.

'This is a C rank mission where you come from, Mika.' he told her firmly. 'You can do this.' Her young face changed from that of uncertainty, to that of determination and resolution. She nodded to him before he turned away, whispering a small "good luck" and they were gone. '_They'll be okay…_' he told himself. '_I mean they got me with their flour bombs… they'll be fine._'

Mika and Sasuke leapt from tree to tree heading in the direction they had come from, hearts pounding with nerves but their young faces were set. They got to the farmyard and stopped for a moment, giving the target time to let their minds wander from the two thirteen year olds dashing off.

'What happens if we're discovered?' asked Mika quietly, her face still set as she gazed off into the dark greenery in front of them from where they were standing on a thick branch. There was a pause as Sasuke thought of an answer.

'We fight till the end.' he said decisively. Mika nodded unwaveringly, her pretty face hard as she imagined what was ahead of them. 'But that's not going to happen.' he added, trying not to seem too pessimistic, but Mika snorted.

'Shall we get on with it then?' she asked looking over at him, her expression hard and neutral at the same time. Sasuke gazed over at his best friend and watched as a mischievous smile crept onto her pretty face which he returned before they both looked back into the darkness before of them.

They leapt off simultaneously into the dark forest, ignoring the dog barking in the background, side by side as they raced back to where Kakashi and the others were still calmly walking. Their hearts were racing with adrenaline and Mika was surprised to find a smile on her face as she felt her blood rushing up and down her thirteen year old body, she glanced over at the dark haired boy running beside her and noticed him biting his lower lip. She reached in her shuriken holster for a kunai knife, just to make sure she was ready for any sneak attack that could appear at any moment. The air rushing past her ears cut off her hearing slightly so she turned her head to the side for a moment, and regretted it. Her plum coloured hair flicked at her face viciously, she turned her head back around and wiped her face with her hand trying to get rid of the locks.

Suddenly, just when she had got back on course, something threw itself out of the tree Sasuke had been about to land on and grabbed hold of the dark eyed boy, pulling him down to ground level. Mika stopped in her tracks and leapt down to his aid, only to find him fighting against a tall man with a balaclava on and no visible headband on. He was wearing a black, long sleeved shirt and kaki shorts, showing his calves which were covered by dirty crimson bandages which might have been white once.

'Did you honestly think that we wouldn't notice you?' he asked as Sasuke dodged a kick to the head. He threw out his fist which Sasuke grabbed, pulling the man's body down and bringing his knee up to meet him, colliding them with a painful crunch. The man pulled back, rubbing his nose and glaring at Sasuke menacingly before pulling out a large shuriken, the likes of which Mika hadn't had to deal with before now, and threw it at Sasuke. Sasuke threw himself on the ground and kicked out with his left leg, making the man stumble backwards and miss his giant shuriken which Mika caught messily.

'Mika!' cried Sasuke as he pulled out a kunai knife. 'Tell Kakashi there are three!' he shouted firmly. Mika grinned maliciously as she lobbed the heavy shuriken (with difficulty) at the opponent who was forced to let himself fall to the ground to keep his head, allowing Sasuke to kick him in the face.

'Already on it!' cried the girl proudly, pulling out another kunai knife and twirling the two on both her index fingers. She ran at the man who had got to his feet again and jabbed one of the knives into his right leg, feeling the sickening feeling of torn flesh and warm blood on her fingers. She heard him growl in pain and watched his hand rush to stem the flow, giving her the chance to swing around behind him and stab the second knife into his right shoulder, as she hoped against hope he was right handed.

'What do you mean?' asked Sasuke who had also rushed forwards and was busy distracting him so that the young girl could finish her work with her kunai knives.

'When he caught you I automatically used a clone to run and tell Kakashi.' she explained before she was kicked in the side of the face, letting out a small "oof" as she fell to her knees, glaring up at the man. She jumped up and took up Sasuke's work of distracting him while the boy worked on a jutsu.

'Fire style! Grand fireball jutsu!!!' he cried, giving Mika time to leap out of the way before he threw a huge amount of fire out of his mouth, the way his father taught him years ago. Mika shielded herself from the heat and flames with her arms which she could feel burning, making her teeth grit together in pain.

When she felt the heat die down she looked up again, the decisive frown still covering her forehead, she inspected the back of her arms and found all the tiny hairs burnt off. She smiled and showed Sasuke whose face didn't change.

'We should make sure the others are okay.' he said, looking down at the man he had basically just burnt alive. Mika inspected the body and found that he was still breathing, so she turned him onto his back and poured a bit of water onto his face, pulling the charred balaclava off, before opening his shirt to let the air get to him.

She stood up again and nodded to her team-mate before following him as he leapt off into the forest again in search of their friends. They hadn't gone far before they could hear the distinct sound of battle raging, they followed the sounds and found Kakashi finishing off the last of two shinobi who were dressed in the same sort of outfit as Sasuke and Mika's opponent.

'Thanks Mika.' he said when he saw them arriving, his face hard and menacing but his voice was as friendly as ever. 'Very good quick thinking.' he continued, looking around at the woods still surrounding the dusty dirt road. 'But there are still more. I'm not happy with our situation.' he finished glancing around quickly, still frowning distrusting.

'What happened to you guys?' asked Naruto as they set off again down the road, looking pointedly at Mika's bruised cheek, her bloody fingers and Sasuke's blood flecked face. Sakura was simpering beside the dark haired boy who sighed exasperatedly, rolling his eyes.

'A big guy challenged us.' answered Mika shortly with a tired smile, glancing around nervously. 'He was bigger than those guys.' she added, jerking her head in the direction they'd just come from.

'Did you kill him?' Sakura asked Sasuke, completely ignoring the brown eyed girl who rolled her eyes. 'Hmm? Did you kill him Sasuke?' she asked again when the boy seemed not to have heard. He looked down at her darkly.

'No.' he answered shortly choosing not to go into great detail. 'Couldn't have done it without Mika.' he added, turning and smiling at the girl who wasn't looking at him but he watched as a smile snuck onto her features preceded by a cerise blush.

'Could we please focus on hurrying up, please?' said Kakashi from where he was walking, a few yards ahead of the others. 'I don't know if I made myself clear earlier.' he continued, glancing over his shoulder. 'We're not out of the woods yet.' he finished, looking around him intently.

'Hahaha! Nice pun sensei!!!' cried Naruto, scratching the back of his neck. But when the jonin turned around to glower at him he decided that it wasn't intended and chose to keep quiet after that. The small group walked along in silence, each one on red alert as they scanned their environment trying to assertain that they were no longer in danger, but for the moment they all knew that there was quite a while to go before they'd be safe.


	36. innocent angel 18

_Mika and her best friend lay in the long grass between his house and the woods in silence, hand in hand companionably. It had been less than a day since they had kissed by the swinging tyre with butterflies fluttering around them, the dappled shade of the canopy smoothly camouflaging their uncertainties._

'_Mika…' started the boy tentatively, looking over at his best friend who was trying to stifle a large yawn. She made a small "hmm?" of recognition and looked over at him, her mouth still wide from her contented yawn. 'Do you want to marry Niisan?' he asked, trying not to let his own yawn develop.' _

'_Of course not.' she answered smiling at him amicably, watching him let his mouth widen as he yawned. 'But my Otousan and Okaasan promised me, didn't they.' she continued looking back up at the clouds as they floated across the bright blue sky lazily. 'I don't really have a choice, do I?' she asked sadly, relishing the sensation of intimacy their hands were giving her. The boy sighed unhappily._

'_Do you think there's any way we can… change that?' he asked hopefully although he knew there wasn't. She wasn't free to choose who she wanted to be with. He watched her smile and shake her head slowly, gazing at him again through her gorgeous brown eyes._

'_But your brother is nice.' she said, trying to look on the bright side of her situation. 'And at least if I'm married to him I can still see you a lot.' she continued, raising her eyebrows to the lethargic clouds. 'If I was married to somebody else they might not let me see you… Ever! And I might have to move far, far away!' she added, wincing at the idea. The two eight year olds fell silent, hand in hand, gazing up at the bright blue sky, watching as a pigeon flew hastily across the field, ignoring them. In the distance Mika heard chickens squawking, followed by angry calls from a familiar voice and smiled at the idea of Mizu reeking havoc._

'_Mika…' started the boy again, rolling onto his stomach and pulling his hand out of Mikas as he did so._

'_Yes.' she answered rolling onto her own stomach and picking a piece of grass which she put in her mouth, watching it sway with her tongues movement._

'_Who do you prefer?' he continued steadily. He watched as her face lit up at the idea of playing the "which one?" game. 'Me or my brother?' he finished making her face fall._

'_Blue, you know who I prefer.' she said, sighing exasperatedly. 'Why are you so insecure all of a sudden? You know I'd choose you over him any day.' she picked herself up and sat back on her feet, watching him closely. He sat up too with a frown on his forehead. 'Do you have a reason to be insecure? Have I given you a reason to be insecure?' she asked quickly, pulling a blade of grass out of her plum coloured hair._

'_You're going to marry my brother, Mika.' he answered shortly, still frowning at her. She sighed with a tired smile on her face, leant forwards so that she was on all fours and placed her lips on his softly, feeling the warmth and comfort of the proximity clash with the adrenaline of doing something naughty._

'_Only because I _have_ to.' she said after she'd pulled away gently, smiling dreamily. His frown slowly disappeared and was replaced by a friendly smile. 'Otherwise you _know_ that I'd marry you.'_


	37. forasken angel 19

When the small group of shinobi were nearing the huge gates of Konoha Mika noticed a small leafy path leading away through the trees and into the forest.

'Hey Sasuke,' she said without looking at him, pointing vaguely in the direction of the path. 'do you remember those gruesome red… sludgy things? You know the ones we raced on and we made that… what was it? A mud link or something.' she said, still not looking at him.

'What?' came Sasuke's voice from a couple of paces behind her. She stopped and noticed all four of the group had also stopped and were staring at her in disbelief, her eyes darted from one to the other, to the next in search of a reason for this sudden change of attitude. 'How can you remember those?' asked the dark haired boy, his deep steely blue eyes wide with shock.

'More importantly, what are they?' came Naruto's voice as he stared at Mika, wide eyed. 'Gruesome red sludgy things?' he added, picturing a bowl of bright red jelly. Sakura hit him round the head before continuing to gawk at the brown eyed girl.

'Umm… I- I guess I saw the path and just…' she stuttered, trying to work out how she remembered that and nothing else. 'remembered.' she finished, shrugging apologetically at her best friend. 'How old were we then?' she asked, hoping she could place herself back then and remember more.

'About five, I think.' answered Sasuke, his face falling sadly. 'But we might have been a bit older.' he continued, looking over at the leafy path Mika had mentioned.

'Okay then,' said Kakashi sighing tiredly. 'we're nearly there now. Let's make this as painless as possible, alright?' he finished looking pointedly at Naruto who crossed his arms in a huff. They continued on their journey letting their guards down a little as all their minds were on how Mika could have remembered something so… unimportant, and not remember anything else.

'_Cha! I bet she was faking the whole time, just to get closer to Sasuke!_'' thought Sakura furiously glaring at Mika sideways. '_The sneaky little_-'

'Sakura.' came Kakashi's disapproving tone. 'At least be polite in your thoughts. And stop thinking so loud, I think everyone can guess what you're thinking.' he finished smiling to himself seeing the young girls crimson blush. Mika sighed unhappily as she looked over at the river which had just come into view, the calm water reminding her of something which she couldn't quite remember.

Suddenly a thick, pearly mist floated languidly in, disguising whoever must have summoned it. The four thirteen year olds clustered around Kakashi who had hastily lifted his forehead protector and was already in his defensive position. Mika pulled out her trusty kunai knives at the same time as she noticed Sakura who was standing beside her pulling out three shuriken and holding them at the ready. The five shinobi scoured their surroundings for the perpetrator, but could see noone, four of the five hearts pounding nervously as all their breathing became shallow and quick.

'Stay calm.' Kakashi said firmly but quietly. 'I don't suppose any of you made a sneaky shadow clone to go and call for help, did you?' he felt four small head movements as his squad all shook their heads.

'Is it that bad, Sensei?' asked Sakura anxiously. 'Those other two were easy enough… you didn't even have to use your sharingan.'

'They were just bandits.' he answered shortly, still looking around desperately. He had a nasty hunch that this would be a much more difficult battle than the previous one, if it was who he thought it was it would be even worse. He looked over to his left and saw Naruto gritting his teeth and shaking nervously, to his right he saw Sasuke looking around fervently and his hands twitching, clearly thinking it was who Kakashi thought it was. 'I think this is more serious.' he continued looking over his shoulder at the two girls behind him, he noticed Sakura's apprehensive face contrasting with Mika's tough expression, the anticipation of a challenge fresh in her young and innocent features: she didn't have any idea who it might be.

Suddenly out over the water Naruto could just make out two figures standing alone. He nudged Kakashi in the ribs with his elbow, jerking his head in their direction and watching his sensei nod once but say nothing. They were just standing in the middle of the wide expanse of water, not moving or anything, they seemed to be looking in their direction but he couldn't be sure.

'Hey!' exclaimed Sakura abruptly, pointing towards the couple on the water drawing everyone's attention to them. Mika craned her neck to see them, but they were very blurred around the outlines by the mist, she turned and saw Sasuke staring at them furiously, his eyes wide and angry.

'_Who are those two?_' she thought to herself, looking back at the motionless duo. '_And why is Sasuke so worked up about it?_' She glanced at Kakashi whose eyes were also wide with nerves and a hint of shock, which surprised Mika. '_Since when is Kakashi shocked?_'

The fog thickened again until the small group was staring into pearly white nothingness making them all take a step closer to the jonin who pulled out a kunai knife. The fog cleared again and the pair of figures had moved forwards so that they were about five yards away, but their outlines were still so blurred that they were still unrecognizable.

Suddenly Mika's eyes widened as she heard a voice which she hadn't heard in over three years and which made the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stand up as a cold shiver ran down her spine.

'I didn't think I would ever see you again.' came his familiar voice which Mika knew she had heard before, but she couldn't for the life of her place it. All she knew was that it wasn't good.

Beside her she saw Sasuke bristling as he glared furiously into the mist where they both knew the two men were standing about five yards away. She knew Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura were all glowering in the same direction, all aware of the danger the couple were giving off, but noone so much as the boy standing beside her gritting his teeth.

'You've certainly grown up a lot.' came the enthralling voice again as the mist began to clear a little. As the small group of trainee shinobi strained their eyes to see, two shapes became slowly clearer. Mika could almost make out the shorter one of them; the others features seemed harder to distinguish in the faintly blue mist; dark hair fell across the first mans face as his features became slowly clearer. 'You've become a fine young woman.'

Suddenly Mika could see his face perfectly: his dark eyes, his cold mouth which hadn't always been like that, the two markings on either side of his nose defining his cheekbones. She recognised him, she could remember him but the memory brought tears to her deep hazel eyes. The last time she had seen that face it had been moving rhythmically above her as she screamed in agony, at the same time as the sweaty face moved up above her head a searing pain clenched her between her eight year old legs as though a huge roll of sandpaper was being forced inside her and then dragged back out again agonisingly while she cried out, begging him to stop. But he didn't stop. She screamed his name, pleading, uncomprehending as she tried to hit him, tried to make him get off her as the tears flowed freely down the side of her face and into her hair which had dead leaves in it from lying on the forest floor, but he didn't care.

'You don't remember.' came his voice, forcing her back to the present and reality, her eyes glaring furiously at him as the miserable tears disappeared into a tough face full of hatred.

'I remember.' she assured him, making Sasuke glance at her in astonishment but she ignored him, fixing all her rage on the boy who had broken her, who had stolen her past. 'Itachi.' she finished in a furious whisper, the word burning as it passed across her livid lips.

He laughed quietly but there was no joy or warmth in the sound: it was cold and void of all human feeling other than hatred. Mika gritted her teeth as she finally understood how her best friend felt towards the young man across from them, she wanted him to hurt, the same way she had.

'You Fucking Bastard!!!' she roared at him, her eyes flashing fire as pure loathing coursed through her small body. 'You're fucked up!!!' she remembered what Sasuke had told her about what he had done to them, how he had described his expression, his emotions.

'No.' he contradicted her quietly, a tiny smirk on his otherwise neutral face. 'Just powerful.' he finished closing his eyes slowly, almost alluringly, only to snap them open again as he cried out menacingly: 'Mangekyou Sharingan.'

Before anyone could do anything Mika found herself in the woods just outside the village, but the colours were inverted and she was little; she was eight again. There he was, standing before her threateningly, towering over her.

'Do you know where we are?' he asked quietly, his deep voice reverberating against the large trees making Mika even more scared than she already was, but she continued to glare at him defiantly. 'These are the woods between the village and where your family lived.' he told her when he got no response. 'Do you know what's going to happen?' Mika nodded, finding that she couldn't do anything else.

Three quarters of an hour later she was back in the cool twilight beside Sasuke, but she could still feel it. She could still feel him inside her tiny eight year old body, she could still smell his masculine smell, feel his sweaty naked skin through her torn clothes. She fell to her knees as she heard Kakashi telling them not to look at his eyes, exhausted by something which had taken three quarters of an hour, but which had lasted less than a second… and the others were oblivious as to what had happened. She squeezed her aching legs together, trying to ease the throbbing pain as she rubbed her face as though there was ink on it, trying to rub away the shame before she violently threw up.

'You enjoyed that.' said Itachi maliciously as Mika shuddered violently on the ground, tears streaming down her flushed face.

'What did you do to her???' bellowed Sasuke furiously, his hands balled into fists and his face twitching slightly with rage as he glared at his older brother.

'I repeated history, little brother.' he answered calmly, but his voice was filled with cold hatred for noone in particular. 'As I have done for you in the past.' he added as Mika looked up at him, feeling her own hatred simmering in her chest dangerously, painfully close to boiling point.

'Leave them out of it!' cried Kakashi stepping in front of Mika who was shakily getting to her feet protectively, his hands outstretched.

'NO!' yelled Sasuke lividly. 'This is MY battle!' he cried running forwards at Itachi. The older boy looked over at his partner and jerked his head slightly in Kakashi's direction, the other man nodded and leapt forwards before landing in front of Kakashi. Mika finally saw his face and understood why she hadn't been able to see him through the thick bluish fog: he himself was a pale blue colour, with small disturbing white eyes which stared menacingly at the jonin, a smirk playing across his pale blue lips and what looked like gills on either side of his face.

Kakashi pushed Mika unceremoniously out of harms way, making her fall over onto her side where Naruto came and tried to help her up. From her position on the ground, trying to force her weak legs to get up, she noticed Sasuke getting thrashed around by Itachi, his face still completely emotionless.

'NO!!!' she cried out, trying to reach for him as she pulled against Naruto's grip. She struggled with all the strength left in her small body, surprised at the blond boys strength as he locked his arms around her waist. 'Sasuke!!!'


	38. innocent angel 19

_The boy excitedly got dressed in the clothes his mother had put out for him, making sure he didn't make any creases in the formal outfit. He smiled at himself in the mirror before running out to find someone to help him tie up his tiny bow tie._

_The Uchiha family arrived at the Tikaake hamlet half an hour later, all five dressed perfectly as they were met at the gate by a perfectly dressed young man with dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, his fringe falling elegantly into his stunning blue eyes. Emiko raised a flirtatious eyebrow to him, but her mother elbowed her in the ribs, making her wince._

'_Welcome to the Tikaake domain.' said the young man professionally, a welcoming smile on his handsome face. 'I am Keamon Tikaake, son of Keitaru Tikaake and I am here to make your evening as pleasant as possible.' he said, bowing his head slightly. Mr and Mrs Uchiha smiled at each other at the thought that their eldest son was still in a better league than this polite young man. 'If you like to follow me, then I shall show you to your seats.' he finished, turning and offering his arm to Emiko who smiled mischievously at her mother before taking it and following Keamon along the dirt path and onto the wooden veranda, taking them around the pond to the opposite end of the tiny hamlet before stopping just outside a pair of large oak doors._

_He knocked three times and smiled at the guests before the doors slowly opened onto a huge room with a very high ceiling, there was a stage at the furthest end of the room with dark curtains pulled so as not to see the decorations. Keamon released his arm from Emiko's grip, to her disappointment, and walked over to a table where various nibbles were set out beautifully and an old looking woman with squinty eyes was arranging them. Mika's best friend was looking wide eyed around the room a huge grin on his young face as excitement pumped up and down his small body, he watched as the woman with squinty eyes smacked Keamon's hand as he tried to nick a crisp and giggled. He felt his father put a hand on his shoulder to silence him, despite the calming music which could be heard around them, he looked up and saw the familiarly stern face smiling down at him fondly._

'_Ah there you are!' came Mika's fathers voice as he marched over to the guests, holding his hand out for Blue's father to take, which he did. 'Thank you very much for coming, it's an honour.' _

'_No, no!' exclaimed the young boys father loudly. 'The honour is all ours! I hear that not everybody has the opportunity to see the traditional Tikaake dance.' he continued heartily._

'_We're all very excited.' said the boys mother, taking a small bow which Mika's father returned politely._

'_I take it my nephew was polite?' asked the black haired man with green eyes, looking expectantly at Blues mother._

'_Very polite.' came Emiko's voice from above him. But the young boy didn't hear the rest, he was too busy taking in his surroundings, the table covered with tasty looking morsels, the comfortable looking chairs in front of the stage, the few other guests who were mingling with the male members of the Tikaake clan. He noticed Mika's cousin, Mizu sneakily stealing a beautifully crafted sugar pear and biting into it while Mika's grandmother had her hunched back turned, he saw Yama talking with one of the guests the young boy didn't recognise. All the Tikaakes were in their best clothes, the same way as most of the guests were including Emiko which had surprised Blue at the time._

_After a while a small bell rang from the stage and all the guests looked up to see the old woman's husband up there in his best silk kimono, grinning down at the guests proudly._

'_Welcome honourable guests.' he boomed, his arms out in a welcoming gesture as he beamed down at them proudly. 'If you could all follow the young men who invited you in, they will take you to your respective places.' Blue noticed that Keamon was leading his family towards the front, he also noticed his brother jerking his head at him telling him to get a move on, which he did._

_He looked around and saw the other guests being led to their places by Mizu and Yama, but his family was the only one being led to the front: the guests of honour, right next to the immediate family. Blue sat down between his brother and Mika's youngest cousin, who had led another couple to their seats, and smiled up at him amicably. Mizu smiled down at him in a sort of "I'm only being nice to you because you're small and cute" kind of way, but the eight year old boy ignored that factor._

'_Right!' continued the old man, still beaming down at the guests. The young boy noticed that in the place where his left hand should have been, there was a large and obvious stump, making the boy shudder at the thought of losing a member._

'_He lost that when he fought against the nine tailed fox demon.' Mizu told him under his breath, having noticed Blue's shiver. The younger boy looked up at him in awe._

'_Now that you are all comfortable,' continued the balding man, his friendly face still grinning proudly down at them all, pausing a moment just to wink at Blue who was the youngest guest good-naturedly. 'we can sit back and watch the show my lovely daughters-in-law and granddaughter are about to show you!' There was an enthusiastic round of applause, but the old man hadn't finished. 'Please do bear in mind that this is Mika's first try, and since she has not quite mastered her power she is not quite as good as Ame and Hochiko, my two beautiful daughters-in-law.'_

_From behind the curtain Mika listened to her grandfathers speech and the applause with baited breath and a racing heart. She had been placed in the middle because she was the smallest and was in position, ready for the curtain to lift. Her mother smiled at her soothingly and her aunt winked reassuringly. She took a deep breath as the lights went slowly darker, leaving them in partial darkness as a spot light progressively lit up on each of them indicating that they were about to start. The music started and Mika knew what she had to do._

_She slowly lifted her right hand, in the air above her crouched form before slowly bringing it down waiting for her aunt and mother to do the same before the slow beat kicked in. They progressively lifted their upped bodies from their curled up position, unwinding every single piece of their spines to make the movement flow harmoniously; all three women let their left legs slip out from underneath them, their toes sliding elegantly along the smooth wooden floor and stopped perpendicular to their left knees. Mika watched as her female relations stood up gracefully, spinning around as they did so as the youngest member held her arms out horizontally, trying not to go too fast for the slow moving music. She felt her mother and aunt put their soft hand under her armpits and lift her into the air where she twisted her waist, so as to make her curled legs rotate back and forth twice before the older women placed her gently back down on her feet. Mika waited for the other two to swing around so that they all had their backs turned to the public before they all moved their hips in time to the beat, then let their torsos follow the last movement their shapely hips had made._

_Blue's mouth fell open as he watched his best friend moving her body so alluringly, her flimsy outfit revealing the movement of every single muscle she used for every move she made. The short golden-red top made of velvet stopped just below the women's breasts where tiny golden threads hung elegantly moving with the tiny shifts of the stomach muscles, held up by triangular looking straps in the same material; the full-length skirts were held up by velvet, golden belts with deep red markings on the low rising fabric, the actual skirt was in the same fabric as the tops and consisted of two strips of the material which covered just enough not to be vulgar. The young boy looked around and saw that most men were enthralled with the dance of the women, he frowned jealously as he hoped they weren't looking at Mika._

_The young girl glanced out into the crowd as the three dancers rotated their chests graciously in simultaneous movements, and noticed her best friend watching her intently which made her smile to herself. She looked a little to his left as her mother and aunt lowered themselves down to the ground in the splits (which Mika couldn't do) and she saw her future husband watching her too, a small smile playing on his lips, making Mika feel very grown up and spurred her on to coil her body around even more alluringly than she had in the practices. Her mother gave the tiniest cough, reminding her that she was supposed to be coiling her left leg around herself as she lowered herself onto the floor while her mother and aunt both did a very complicated move in which Ame had to twist herself around Hochiko backwards. Mika sank to the floor gracefully, snaking her left foot over her right leg and onto the varnished wooden planks on the other side, letting her pelvis swing around with the movement and noticing the dark haired boy in the public fidget in his chair awkwardly._

_The brown eyed girl noticed Ame and Hochiko coming out of their move and quickly got up, making sure not to break the flow of the dance, and stood a step or so behind them as they all put their hands in a praying position, their hips gyrating in rhythm with the beat of the quiet music. Mika counted three swings of her right hip, placed her hands on her left hip letting her eyes fall to the flimsy skirt as she did so for one swing of her right hip before bringing her hands up to their previous position. The three women repeated this move twice before they let the hips lead their nimble bodies around on the spot, their hands winding their hands around as they did so, finding themselves with their backs to the audience again. They repeated the praying hand move before they sank to their knees with their hands still in the air, fingers intertwined, not quite sitting on their feet so it was easier to rotate their pelvis' again, letting their waists take the brunt of the rearrangement of weight. Mika took a deep breath as the hardest part of her choreography arrived, she screwed her eyes up as she took her mother and aunts hands, ready for it._

_They discreetly pushed up hard on their toes and forced their bodies to leave the ground for a fraction of a second, rearranging their limbs before landing on their points and a pained look on Mika's young face. That was the only reason they had to have their backs to the audience. They heard the collective intake as they turned around, three pairs of pointed toes shuffling supply across the shiny surface, three pairs of hands gracefully weaving slowly above their heads while inside her head Mika was screaming out in agony as she put all her weight onto the tips of her toes over and over again. But she didn't show it._

_The audience was captivated, the men's gazes were following the two older women but Mika knew where her best friends eyes would be fixed. She chanced a glance into the small public and, as she had expected, there he was with his eyes glued to her as she let her knees band into right angles on either side of her. She tried not to smile but found it intensely difficult until she was relieved of the need to hide it by a change of rhythm; she placed her feet flat on the deliciously smooth floorboards and ran to the back of the stage where she leapt into the air, spinning her small body around as she did so, watching the snippets of her aunt and mother doing a more complicated dance move. She landed messily on the floor, nearly losing her balance but regaining it swiftly as she prayed noone noticed, she joined Hochiko and Ame as they did a different jump, bending their bodies backward so that their toes touched the back of their heads, but Mika's feet couldn't quite make it, instead caressing her silky hair with her feet._

_When they landed they let their torsos fall forwards, placing their heaving chests on the floor before picking them up again and curling their spines back; they then quickly spun over onto their sweaty backs, lifted their heavy legs into the air where they intertwined with themselves, stroking them irresistibly. The three women then lifted their upper bodies up again, spinning around to face the audience, before crossing, uncrossing and crossing their legs three times. Mika was on the far right hand side, her mother was in the centre of the stage and her aunt was on the far left when they curled their legs beneath them, sitting on their feet and breathing heavily with the effort of the dance._

_Ame held out her right hand at chest height, Mika held out her left hand at the same height and Hochiko held both her hands above her head, all three of them trying to mask their exhaustion. As the music gradually died down a tiny spurt of water appeared in Mika's left hand, minuscule drops of rain fell into Ame's palm and a large plant grew out of Hochiko's before a large red flower poked out of the very middle. They held the pose for a moment while the music disappeared then the lights dimmed, leaving them all in darkness as the curtain fell and applause rose in a deafening wave despite the small amount of guests._

_Hochiko, her daughter and Ame got up beaming and were finally able to breath freely as the curtain rose again where they all curtseyed, Mika grinning proudly as she saw her best friend beaming up at her from where he was standing between Mizu and the boy Mika was going to marry who were also clapping and smiling up at her._


	39. forsaken angel 20

Mika finally managed to break free of Naruto's locked arms just as Itachi picked his little brother up by the scruff of the neck, preparing to deliver the final blow. She ran forwards screaming furiously, her cheeks stretching where the tears had dried up and left a dirty trail where they had seeped down. The older boy looked over at her lazily, his red eyes oozing hatred for the rest of the world around him, but they didn't put Mika off as she ripped out a kunai knife from her shuriken holster on her right leg.

When she was about three feet away he dropped Sasuke's limp body which sank lifeless into the gently flowing river making Mika cry out in a different tone, forgetting about her previous target and diving into the water she had been running on a moment before. She could see him about a yard below her, his face bruised and blood slowly leaking out of his nose and darkening the clear water around her; his face seemed so helpless, so vulnerable. She cried out his name as she watched him float away faster than she could swim, hoping that he could hear her and try to swim towards her outstretched hand.

Suddenly she felt a strong hand grip her right ankle and pull her back up towards the surface forcefully, making her cry out in dismay for Sasuke. When she emerged coughing and spluttering, hanging upside down by her leg, she saw the familiar face staring down at her uninterestedly. She growled in frustration and swiped the knife in her hand across his cloak, but he had already dodged it and was grasping her hand before she was able to regain her former uncomfortable, upside-down posture. She felt him lift her and let her drop towards his waiting knee, ready to break her in half; she quickly twisted her body around uncomfortably, wincing as she did so, and found herself grasping his collar for dear life. She noticed his surprised face to find her hanging there and hastily threw her off him, watching as she skidded across the rippled surface before she stopped about three yards away from him on her side. He watched as she got up again with a defiant look across her even features before she got up and ran at him again, reaching down once to pick up the knife she had dropped while she had been skimming over the water, but before she got anywhere near him she dove in again, swimming below him after his younger brother.

Mika pushed her body deeper in the dark water, searching around desperately for her best friend through the murky river but she couldn't see him and her lungs felt as though they were about to explode. She scrunched her eyes up against the pain but didn't go back up, she wouldn't until she had found him and brought him with her.

Again she felt the familiar feeling of something grasping her leg but she kicked herself free, kicking the owned of the hand in question in the face before quickly diving deeper. She felt her head spin, she closed her eyes but it kept spinning and starting making her eyes ache despite them being closed. She tried to keep herself awake, tried desperately to see through the increasing darkness, trying to find Sasuke. But her brown eyes were slowly rolling into the back of her head.

Suddenly she felt a strong hand grip her by her upper arm and start pulling her towards the surface, she would have fought back but her limbs were suddenly painfully heavy, hanging limp beneath her as she slowly rose back up to the light of the outside world. She spluttered as the cold air smacked her around the face like a frozen piece of cloth, making her eyes water as someone pulled her back up onto the solid ground. She opened her eyes and found them unaccustomed to the light, forcing her to close them again and blink repeatedly before she could see clearly again and see Sasuke looking at her anxiously, Sakura in the background with a bloody nose and a foul look on her pretty face.

'Sasuke- you were…' she mumbled, frowning at him and looking vaguely back at the water she had just been pulled out of. 'Itachi-'

'It takes more than that to kill me.' he said quietly, smiling down at her reassuringly. She sat up and looked around, noticing that the battle was still in full flow with Kakashi still fighting the fish man and Naruto (and multiple clones) were attempting to fight Itachi and failing. 'You gave Sakura quite a nasty kick.' he added, smirking at the pink haired girl affectionately as she burst into a furious blush.

'She was trying to-' started the brown eyed girl in surprise, looking wide eyed at the dark haired boy. 'You tried to… help me?' she asked looking over his shoulder as he looked away at Naruto who had just received a direct hit. Sakura smiled half heartedly at her as the boy leapt up and ran to Naruto's rescue.

'Well I wasn't gonna let you drown, now was I?' she said as though it was obvious, but the gesture still touched the girl with the plum coloured hair. 'You'd better get back out there.' she added, looking over Mika's shoulder at the fight between the two genin and the teenager who had been in the Anbu black squad.

Mika nodded and reached for her kunai knife, only to find it had sunk to the bottom of the river while she had been searching for Sasuke. She cursed under her breath as she got to her feet, preparing herself to do her Hidden Grass Village technique.

'Grass element!! Hidden deer jutsu!!!' she cried, running at the small group of battling shinobi while quickly forming the snake, horse, dragon, dog, tiger, snake and boar hand seals, holding the boar as several illusions came into existence in small puffs of smoke. Itachi noticed her a moment too late as her leg swung into existence three inches from his handsome face before smashing across his even features and making him stumble sideways before swiftly regaining his posture. She was just putting her hands into snake when he appeared out of nowhere right behind her and thrust his hand and several shuriken through her torso which, had he done it a nano-second before, would have killed her but due to her hands in the snake position went straight through her making her yelp in surprise.

He then went on to do the same to several more of her chimeras, each one of them reacting in the same sort of way before he passed on to the next. Mika decided that now was the time to attack, while he was distracted, and ran at him along with three more of her trickery selves; she leapt into the air and smashed her leg down onto him with all the strength she could muster, only to find a pair of strong hands gripping her leg before swinging it around and letting it go, so that she flew through the air and crashed heavily against a tree.

She groaned in pain as she felt her shoulder blade snapping back into place with a satisfying click, she rubbed her right shoulder hoping against hope this wouldn't affect her fighting skills and looked over at the battling shinobi. She got to her feet as she watched Sakura being kicked in the back by the fish man who had lost his sword in his fight with Kakashi, she looked back over at Itachi who was staring at her Sasuke and Naruto both lying motionlessly at his feet.

**Okay, I forgot to mention that there was rude words in the chapter before... the one before this one... O.o well... I'm very sorry if anyone was offended by Mika's actions and words.. If anyone is unhappy then please say something and I will act accordingly!! lol!!! 3**


	40. innocent angel 20

_Mika ran into the crowded room excitedly, the hype she'd got from the dance still making her young heart race. She looked swiftly around searching for her best friend, a large grin on her young face as people around her commented on how grown up she had looked. She didn't believe them of course because she knew that noone other than her cousins, her future husband and her best friend had been watching her, but it was nice to hear them complimenting her anyway._

_She curtsied to them all politely before swiftly moving off to try and find the person she was looking for. There were a lot more people now that the dance was over and her parents were letting the other guests in for the banquet and Mika found it very difficult to see through the throng. She knew that the Tikaake dance was only shown to very close friends, and therefore only three families had attended it tonight while the other guests had arrived a little later for the banquet._

_Suddenly, through one guests legs, she noticed another pair of young legs which were shuffling around rapidly, clearly looking for someone as well. She was about to call out his name when his older brother, her future husband, stepped in front of her with a friendly smile on his face._

'_I won't say that you looked very grown up tonight, Mika.' he said in his deep yet friendly voice. Mika frowned uncertainly, glancing around her as she did so before he continued. 'Because I know that everyone has been telling you that, even though none of them were looking at you.' the eight year old smiled a smile which was supposed to say "Parents. What are you gonna do about them!" _

'_Umm… well… that's adults, I guess.' she said light heartedly, still smiling up at him politely._

'_So I'm going to tell you what I thought.' he continued in his enthralling voice. The young girl looked up at him expectantly, waiting patiently for his opinion. 'You didn't look any older than you are, but you did look beautiful for your age.' Mika felt her cheeks slowly burning as a beetroot blush crept onto them, making her smile uncomfortably and looking down at the floor. 'And I'm looking forward to the day we can be wed.' he added, making her snap her face back up to gaze in shock into his handsome face. They stood in silence for a moment, smiling amicably at each other before the older boy chuckled, closing his eyes as he spoke. 'You can go and join my brother outside now.'_

'_Thank you.' she said quietly closing her eyes as she curtsied to him politely before dashing off to find her best friend who was indeed waiting outside for her._

'_You looked really cool up there!' he exclaimed when she stopped in front of him, still grinning madly. 'That dance was… it was… umm… incredible! Amazing! Whatever you want it to be!!'_

'_Didn't you see me nearly fall over?' she asked modestly, but inside she was glowing with pride. 'And I slipped up a couple of times.' she added, blushing uncomfortably._

'_I didn't see.' he answered, a deep red blush creeping onto his young cheeks. 'I just saw how pretty you looked.' he finished quietly, half hoping that she wouldn't hear but he knew she had when a cerise coloured flushed her own young cheeks._

'_I'm so hot!' she exclaimed, trying to change the subject and waving at her sweaty forehead with her tired hand. 'Let's go to the river!' she cried enthusiastically, bouncing on the balls of her feet excitedly feeling them slide across her small toes deliciously._

'_What, now?' asked the boy, frowning at her incredulously. 'But you're still in your dancing outfit… it's dark already… and your mother and aunt will be bringing supper out soon-'_

'_Oh please!!!' she begged, trying to do the puppy dog eyes trick. 'You can get some supper when we come back… we won't be long!' she added, smiling winningly at him and taking his hand in her own. 'I really want to go swimming.' She knew he would do anything for her, and knew that she would do anything for him, so this was a sure fire way of getting him to give in and join her in a midnight swim._

'_Fine. But just a quickie, okay?' he gave in with an exasperated sigh and a resentful smile. She giggled and pulled him along behind her in the direction of the large gates which separated her clans hamlet from the forest which surrounded it, feeling his cool fingers grip her own hot ones. 'And I want to be back for pudding…' he added from behind her as he caught up with her, both eight year olds giggling as they infiltrated the darkness of the forest._

_The sound of young giggles could be heard echoing through the forest for miles around as the two best friends dashed between the thick set trees and bushes, hand in hand as usual but this time there was an extra intimacy between them, a secret that only they knew. Their young eyes sparkling with contentment and delight through the darkness as the two best friends shared their secret special relationship._

_They got to the top of a small waterfall and stopped to catch their breath for a moment before the young boy started pulling his shirt off. Mika kicked off her shoes and stood waiting for her friend who looked up enquiringly._

'_Aren't you going to take your clothes off?' he asked, blushing as he heard how it came out and noticing her blushing too as she scratched the back of her neck._

'_Well, uhh… the thing about that is…' she started awkwardly, feeling her cheeks burning close to boiling point. 'I… for the dance… I couldn't have underwear on…' he said quickly, not meeting his gaze as both pairs of young cheeks flushed beetroot and the boys eyes widened. 'NO, NO!!!' she cried noticing his shocked expression. 'I have knickers on… just… not what I usually wear…' she mumbled uncomfortably. The boy knew he shouldn't ask, but the question was tearing him apart bit by bit from the inside out._

'_What do you usually wear?' the words slipped out before he quickly turned away, sliding his legs out of his white shorts so that he was just in a pair of black boxer shorts. 'And what's the difference with these?' He watched the girl almost explode as she blushed harder than ever._

'_Well… usually I wear… well… umm… pants…' she said quietly, almost too quietly to hear but it was a very quiet night and the boy was listening intently. 'these ones… well… it's one of Okaasans… it umm…it's really uncomfortable as well… it's a th…' she let her voice trail off as she turned away from him, hoping he hadn't heard her before turning back around with the explanation. 'It was for the dance! We had to wear them cos otherwise it would show underneath the skirt-'_

'_Mika, it doesn't matter.' interrupted the boy putting his hand on her upper arm reassuringly, too awkward to put it anywhere else. She smiled at him gratefully, but the colour was still visible in both their cheeks. 'Come on, let's get in before it gets too late!!'_

_He took her hand nervously and led her to the edge where they stood looking down at the water a few yards below them. Grinning at each other as they gritted nervous teeth, they threw themselves off into nothingness, adrenaline pumping up and down their tiny bodies as the boy and girls hands gripped each other for dear life before crashing into the bitter water below them, not letting go of the others hand for anything. They came back up, gulping for air but smiling as the excitement slowly wore off as they shivered in the water, their little legs kicking to keep their head above the surface. As the boy watched his little friend brushing her long hair out of her face he felt a sudden urge to hold her, to touch her… to kiss her. They hadn't kissed since that day in the grass a day after they had first brushed their lips together in the woods._

_He swam forwards towards her as he watched her smiling, trying to keep her head above the surface, he reached over and tried to help her by pushing her upwards but only found himself sinking rapidly. He came back up to find her giggling at his meagre attempt to help her, she took his hand with one of hers while the other continued to fight to keep her above the water. He felt his foot hit a large rock, making him wince in pain but giving him an idea._

'_Hey wait-' he started, trying to turn around and finding himself with a mouthful of water, spluttering embarrassingly and making Mika giggle. 'There's a sputter a rock here…' He swam onto it, pulling the girl by her hand as he stood up on the hard surface; which only came up to his waist when he was standing. He bent over and helped the girl with the plum coloured hair up, tugging her by her slippery hand as her naked feet tried to cling to the dicey rock. 'Careful of the crocodiles…' he said quietly making the girl squeal in terror and scramble onto the rock hastily, throwing her arms around the boys neck and looking back down into the water in alarm her stunning hazel eyes wide._

'_Are there really crocodiles here?' she asked in a terrified whimper glancing around her hastily, still clinging to her best friend for dear life as he giggled at her fear._

'_Well if there are then I'll look after you.' he said locking his arms around her wet waist reassuringly. She smiled back at him gratefully, perfectly aware that he had only said that to make her get a move on when she was scrambling onto the rock, but it was still nice to know that he would protect her._

_He slowly reached up and detaching her rigid hand from the back of his neck and stroking it with his cold thumb, smiling at her adoring as she continued to smile uncertainly up at him. He leant slowly forwards, closing his dark blue eyes, and brushed his cool lips across hers, feeling the warmth of her breath in the cool summer air brushing past them amicably, he felt her lift her face up to his as she invited him to take it further, the water slowly warming up. He pressed his mouth against hers harder making her smile to herself as she reciprocated, letting him lead the way into the unknown. He felt her press her cold body against his, seeking his warmth in the hostile, water flowing around them, gently lapping against their young tummies._

_Suddenly he felt something that he had never felt before, something throbbing down in his boxers. His eyes widened in apprehension and pulled away from Mika who looked at him in perplexed unease, silently asking what was wrong. The young boy didn't want to tell her… he didn't know how… it wasn't something he had learnt about… noone had told him about this… whatever it was. It wasn't uncomfortable, but he still didn't want her to know about it… it was… down there._

'_What's wrong?' asked the brown eyed girl nervously. 'Did I do something wrong?' she asked, clearly terrified that she had made a mistake. In all honesty he couldn't have told her if he'd wanted to. He didn't know if it WAS something she had done._

'_Can we go home, please?' he asked, buying himself some time to find a decent answer to her questions. She nodded slowly, worry still etched in her pretty features along with disappointment as she made her way over to the shore, followed by the boy a little gingerly._

_She got out first and made her way up the steep but small slope to where they had left the boys clothes and the girls shoes, but Blue stayed behind hiding himself in the water as he waited for her to bring his stuff back._

'_Do you mind if I wear your t-shirt?' she asked benignly, clutching the blue shirt and white shorts in one hand and holding his shoes in the other. 'Why are you still in the water?' she enquired, frowning in surprise at him sitting in the shallow part of the river._

'_Umm… I've got a problem…' said the boy uncomfortably, deciding to bite the bullet and tell her. She hurried back to him, holding the clothes out of the water, a worried expression on her young face. 'I… err… when we were… kissing…' he found it surprisingly difficult to say the word, and when he did the feeling in his pants intensified, not uncomfortably, but embarrassingly. 'S- something happened to me.' he said finally, not looking her in the face which he noticed was still looking puzzled. 'down… umm, down there.' he finished, feeling his cheeks burning despite the chill of the water._

_He did however notice her deep hazel eyes widen in shock, visible through the moonlight filtering through the canopy. He looked up at her, hoping to find an understanding face but she quickly covered herself with his t-shirt letting out a nervous squeal._

'_I didn't mean for it to happen!' he assured her with an apologetic look on his young face. 'It just sort of… umm… stiffened… on it's own!!!' he finished, almost begging for her to understand._

'_It's okay…' she said quietly, a tentative smile creeping across her worried face as she continued to press his shorts and t-shirt to her torso. 'but… umm… I just feel… umm… a little uncomfortable with having no clothes on suddenly…' she mumbled, blushing herself. 'Can I wear your t-shirt then?' she asked again._

'_Yeah… sure… as long as I can have my shorts.' he answered, smiling gratefully at her, thankful that she hadn't shunned him. She nodded, winced uncomfortably then motioned to him to turn around with her finger. 'Oh… yeah… right.'_

_A few minutes later they were on their way home again, hand in hand and smiles across their young faces, their minds racing at what they had discovered… trying to work out whether or not they liked it. Mika in the boys shirt and the boy in his shorts, walking through the dark forest in silence._

'_You know…' started the girl, breaking the comfortable silence with a small chortle. 'I think we might still be in time for pudding.'_


	41. forsaken angel 21

Mika picked herself up, all the time trying to shake the feeling deep inside her that they couldn't win this battle, and ran at Itachi again ignoring the two lifeless bodies lying not far from him. His icy stare pierced through the girl like a white hot kunai knife, puncturing the skin and flesh with a clean wound which was, if possible, even more painful than if it had been messy.

He let her run straight up to him and even take a couple of swings with her right leg, but they only ever came up against his strong arm which brushed away her attacks with agonising ease. But he soon bored of seeing the extent of her power, which he clearly found mediocre (which was what Mika had been saying all along, but would they listen???), and swiped her around the face with incredible speed and strength which sent her spiralling through the air back towards the tree she had smashed against earlier, her brown eyes screwed up against the pain. She felt herself crash through several branches before finally being stopped by a thick beech, letting herself slide down to the forest floor as the blood started pouring from her nose. She opened her eyes again to glower at him defiantly, gritting her teeth together only to find the distinct taste of blood on her tongue which she found she had bitten on her way through one of the branches which now lay in her wake.

Suddenly she saw Sasuke picking himself up, the same defiant look as was on Mika's face only his had a lot more hate in it than she could ever muster. But the older sibling simply kicked the younger away uninterestedly before looking back over at the battered girl with the plum coloured hair, staring at her fixedly. She watched in horror as he started making his way over to her unhurriedly, still staring unblinking at her with his deep red eyes full of contempt for anyone inferior to himself.


	42. innocent angel 21

_Mika smiled at her best friend mischievously. They were at his house and she wanted to try and shave the cat but he was sceptical about the whole idea. For one thing the cat actually belonged to his sister Emiko, and she would be none too pleased to find her darling "Precious" with no fur on his sorry little body._

'_Come on!' pleaded the young girl, smiling imploringly at her best friend who frowned at her firmly. 'She won't know it's us!' the boy raised an eyebrow at her. 'Okay…well, I'll say that umm… Mizu did it!' she suggested enthusiastically, still beaming at him._

'_Emiko is not the sort of person you want to get on the wrong side of.' said the boy folding his arms decisively. 'Plus her boyfriend might beat us up… he was an Anbu before.' he told the girl, nodding respectfully at the memory of him._

'_Pffft…' replied the brown eyed girl, waving her hand dismissively at him. 'If we say we saw Mizu doing it then we'll be completely fine! And he won't get in any trouble cos he's never around.' she added, shrugging._

_Suddenly they heard footsteps coming along the wooden veranda which run around the boys courtyard, two little faces looked around expectantly and watched as an older girl of about twenty meandered uninterestedly around the corner and past them, paying them no attention other than a small friendly smile. After watching the woman go around the next corner, Mika got to her feet and tried to take the boys hand amicably. But he pulled it away roughly without looking at her, making her smile suddenly disappear as a hurt expression took over her features._

'_Why don't you want to hold my hand?' she asked in a small voice, her expression very wounded; the boy didn't answer but started walking off in the direction of the town. 'You know what happened last night… in the river… that wasn't my fault you know.' she said, her tone gradually fading from hurt into angry._

'_Well it's never happened to me on my own!' he shouted , turning to glare at her reproachfully. She scowled at him, miffed to the core. She turned in the other direction and started marching away, the boy sighed tired, knowing he was in the wrong and ran after her. 'Look, Mika I'm so-' but he was cut off by a thin wall of water which ran all the way around the girl, cutting her off from the world. He growled in frustration and tried to shout his apologies through the noisy water, but she just continued to march off in the direction of her home._


	43. forsaken angel 22

'You used to have so much potential.' Itachi said once he was standing a yard away from where she was sprawled, leaning against the tree in a vain attempt at getting up. 'But it's all wasted on you now. You're completely useless.' she spat some blood out of her mouth wiping the residues off of the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand, still glaring at him insolently. He started walking away with a disgusted look on his handsome face, but looked over his shoulder at her to add in a disappointed voice: 'They would be turning in their graves if they could see how you have fallen.'


	44. innocent angel 22

_Emiko smiled as she watched the hollow pylon of water make it's way towards the gate which led to the Tikaake hamlet where they had been just last night. She laughed out loud when she saw a smaller wall of water jump out and scare the living daylights out of her younger brother who stamped his foot lividly, kicking a nearby stone in fury. But he looked over his shoulder and saw the pylon of water swiftly making it's way towards the gates, he ran after it and continued his shouted apologies which Emiko couldn't hear over the noise of the water crashing to the ground around Mika as she walked. She watched as he ran past the moving wall of water and swiftly force the large gates to close making Emiko nod respectfully at her brothers intuition, forcing Mika to come to a standstill. The woman knew perfectly well that Mika could get through the gates or even lift herself over them if she felt like it, but she had a funny feeling the little brown eyed girl didn't want to. But the little boys temper was rising, and the wall of water was not dropping._

_Blue would have to find another way of apologizing._


	45. forsaken angel 23

'I haven't fallen as far as you!' Mika yelled furiously, livid that he dare speak of her that way. 'I haven't become a traitor to the village and my own CLAN!!!' she bellowed, but he wasn't interested: he just kept on walking towards his little brother who seemed like a more interesting opponent. Mika forced herself to her feet, glaring furiously after him as she felt several of her bones crack painfully back into their original position.

She was on her feet again, staring lividly at the back of Itachi's head which didn't seem to be paying her much attention as it was. She fumbled in her shuriken holster for a weapon but found nothing, she was too beaten up to even think about using chakra, and she couldn't even contemplate thinking about trying taijutsu.

'LISTEN TO ME!!!!' she bellowed, throwing her right hand out in a vague attempt to stop him from walking away in such a non-chalant fashion.

Suddenly a huge root like thing zoomed past her less than a yard away to her right, following the same direction her hand was outstretched in, and hit the smug shinobi hard between his shoulders, throwing him forwards about three yards where he skidded across the ground in the same way Mika had not so long ago. The brown eyed girl stared at the root with her eyes wide in shock and surprise… she could feel something… she could feel the trees around her. Suddenly she could feel more, she couldn't have explained it to anyone but she could feel the earth below her feet… she could feel the earth below Itachi, Sasuke, Naruto and the other fighting shinobi. She could feel water… but it wasn't the water in the river… it was more powerful than that… it was IN her…

She lifted her arms in the air and immediately a solid wall of water crashed down around her, surrounding her and cutting her off from the outside world.


	46. innocent angel 23

_Mika crossed her arms rebelliously, listening to the in audible pleads from the boy who was getting more and more frustrated at her. She scowled at the side of her watery refuge, watching his distorted progress around her as he searched for an entrance so that he could speak face to face with her; but she wasn't going to give him that satisfaction… mainly because she knew that if she saw his face she'd automatically give in to him: she adored him._


	47. forsaken angel 24

She looked up the walls of her watery sanctuary, taking in the power of it all. She could see Yama… she could see her mother and father… she could see aunt Ame, and uncle Keitaru… she could see Keamon and Mizu… she could see her grandparents… she could see…

'SASUKE!!!' she screamed in terror as the faces swam in front of her hazel eyes.


	48. innocent angel 24

_Suddenly she saw a hand appear to her right grasping a battered looking flower to her. The hand was connected to an arm which was coming out of a dark blue t-shirt which Mika had been wearing the night before and which belonged to…_


	49. forsaken angel 25

Mikas eyes were wide with apprehension as she saw faces and remembered names and remembered things… But suddenly she saw a hole appear in the wall of water and a hand appearing, a hand attached to an arm which was coming out of a dark blue t-shirt which belonged to…


	50. innocent angel 25

'_Sasuke…' she whimpered, smiling at his hand adoringly. She let the curtain of water which he had stuck his hand through open and saw his indignant face turned away from her, but his hand stayed where it was. She gently relieved him from the battered flower as he turned to smile at her, content that they would be there for each other forever._


	51. forsaken angel 26

'Sasuke…' whimpered the nervous girl as the hand was buffeted around by the sheer power of the water. Mika ordered the curtain of water to separate, revealing Sasuke's affectionate face looking almost as battered as the flower but there was hope in his dark eyes. Mika took a step forwards, taking a hold of his t-shirt for reassurance, her mouth slightly open as she inched towards him, his lips parted slightly as their breath became shallow. 'Sasuke…' she repeated seeing all the faces, hearing all the voices, knowing all the secrets. '…I remember.'

The dark haired boy closed his eyes and pressed his lips against hers, feeling the blissful intimacy for the first time in so long. Mika felt the back of her eyes prickle with tears as she remembered everything, all her secrets, all her family, Sasuke… Blue… his family… her future husband…

Somewhere in the distance she heard Itachi's voice telling someone called Kisame that they should get out of there while they still could. Mika felt something stirring deep in her thirteen year old chest.

She pulled away suddenly, fury coursing through her body as she glared at Itachi who was on his feet again staring back at her blankly, his colleague standing beside him gazing at her too but his eyes were full of curiosity. Mika thought she saw something shimmer behind the deep red eyes poring into her own deep hazel ones… was that a twinge of apprehension?

'Am I still a disappointment?' she asked trying to keep her voice as neutral as possible. She could feel the elements surrounding her: the earth beneath their feet, the trees and grass, the soft breeze fluttering through her plum coloured hair, the fire burning in her soul, the electricity in the air as she and Itachi continued to stare at each other, and the water which was once her only asset. She couldn't understand why she had these new powers, but she knew whose they had been and who she had to live up to. 'Will I still be a disappointment when I crush you?' she asked holding her hand out in a gripping position.

Immediately a tongue of earth sprang out from beneath the duo and engulfed the blue man up to his neck while Itachi managed to leap out of the way just before it closed up on him. She gritted her teeth as roots and vines leapt out at him from all directions, entwining themselves around his wrists and ankles but he was quick and wriggled out of their grips. She watched him doing hand signs, finishing in the tiger and watched uninterestedly as the grand fireball jutsu was aimed at her. She flicked her hand lazily, hatred filling her eyes, and the fire stopped in mid flow and suddenly back-tracked, heading towards Itachi at a much faster pace. He threw himself out of the way only to find a mouth of earth waiting for him before wrapping itself around his chest and stomach, leaving him powerless.

'ARE THEY STILL DISAPPOINTED, ITACHI?' she bellowed at him, fury tearing her throat up as the words scraped past her vocal cords. 'IS MY FAMILY STILL DISAPPOINTED????' She balled her right hand into a fist and saw the young man grit his teeth against the pain, tilting his head back as though hoping that might ease the pain as the ground around him squeezed him like an over ripe fruit. She eased off a bit and watched him try to breathe, his intakes shallow and clearly unfulfilling; but he still looked up at her defiantly. 'Do you like the feeling of being beaten?' she asked, knowing his personality well enough to smirk at his silence. She threw out her left hand and watched in delight as a bolt of lightning suddenly smashed down on him, making him scream out in agony; she waved her left hand lazily and watched as he gasped for air as she pulled it away from him before throwing it back at him with gale force speed. She clenched her fist again and watched as Itachi's face screwed up against the pain of being squeezed, she let go and watched as he coughed and choked, blood spurting out almost every time he opened his mouth.

'Mika…' came a voice behind her, she looked over her shoulder and saw Sasuke looking at her strangely. He took her hand, letting her know that it was time to stop. She let her arms drop to her sides and turned around, seeing the rest of team seven watching her in awe. Suddenly she realised how tired she was and let herself fall to her knees on the ground as the tears rolled down her bruised cheeks, the thought of what she had just done making her feel ashamed of herself.

'It's alright Mika.' came Kakashi's soothing voice from above her. 'I take it you remember now?' he asked crouching down to be at her level. She nodded as she heard Sasuke's voice in the background talking to Itachi, loathing etched in his young voice.

'Go, live your pitiful life.' she heard him say. 'But remember, you could have been crushed by a girl who is the same age as your little brother, but she pitied you.' Mika threw up violently at the thought of what she was so close to doing. She hadn't been thinking, all she had wanted in that moment was for him to hurt… the same way she was hurting… the same way Sasuke was hurting. 'And I, the little brother you spared, am sparing you Uchiha Itachi. Because I don't want to kill you with anyone's help. I want it to be all my doing.' he finished. Mikas eyes were half closed as she clutched her stomach in horror at herself, but she knew she was in for worse. She knew the worst was still to come.


	52. innocent angel 26

**Okay, before you read this I'd like to warn you all that this chapter has very serious issues in it which I do not support in the slightest and I think are disgusting. It is a very sensitive subject and if you are not happy with reading this sort of sensitive thing, please beware of this and if you wish to file a complaint… well… don't. Cos I did give you all fair warning!!!**

_Mika knocked on the large wooden gates which separated her from the Uchiha residence, and waited for an answer which came in the form of Emiko._

'_Umm… is Sasuke back yet?' she asked innocently, hoping that he would have finished training by now since it was already getting dark._

'_Uhh… I'm afraid not…' she said glancing over her shoulder nervously as she did so. Something seemed to be bugging her, making her nervous and awkward which wasn't how she usually was. 'Uhh… listen Sweety, I'll tell him you called by okay? And I'll uhh… I'll send him round when he gets back… but umm…' she glanced over her shoulder again, but this time when she looked back her eyes were definitely scared; more than scared, they were terrified. 'you'd better get back to your house quickly now!' she said loudly, trying to sound normal but her voice sounded strangely squeaky. 'Your Okaasan will be wondering where you are!' suddenly there was a dull thud and Emiko's eyes opened wide before she closed them again, wincing against a hidden pain._

'_Are you okay Emiko?' asked the young girl nervously, looking up at the older woman anxiously with a curious frown on her forehead._

'_Yeah of course!' she exclaimed, quickly regaining her friendly smile and pulling the gate a little tighter shut again. 'Why wouldn't I be? Anyway, you toddle off home okay? And you've got to promise me something Mika.' the young girl with the plum coloured hair nodded benignly, still smiling sweetly up at Sasuke's older sister. 'You've got to promise me to go straight home, okay? Don't stop for anything or anyone, understand?' suddenly Emiko's pretty face was worried, nervous for Mika's safety._

'_I promise.' said the girl nodding at the blond woman in front of her. Emiko smiled back at her before waving and closing the gates, indicating that Mika should go which she did but as she turned to leave she heard a strange sort of quiet whine from inside the Uchiha residence._

_She thought nothing of it and set off in the direction of her home, humming a song under her breath which she couldn't remember the words to. She was skipping through the darkening forest happily, noticing the strange shapes made by the shadows which crept around her like secret ninja from the Anbu black squad. She smiled at a mental image of her in an Anbu outfit, smirking down at Yama in a simple jonin jacket who was scowling up at her with his arms crossed as he grumped._

'_Hello Mika.' came a familiar voice from the shadows away to the girls left. She jumped out of her skin and let out a little scream as she saw two red eyes gazing at her from between two large trees. 'Don't worry, it's just me.' came the voice again as the figure stepped forwards revealing Itachi in his Anbu uniform looking slightly sinister, but that's just what he was like. He had always freaked Mika out to a certain extent, despite never really giving her a reason to be so scared of him: he was perfectly friendly to her._

'_Oh, forgive me…' she said, breathing a sigh of relief as she smiled reassured. 'You frightened me, Itachi.' She smiled up at him uncertainly, wondering what he was doing out here in the middle of the night… well, eight o'clock anyway. She noticed that he wasn't smiling back, and suddenly she remembered the promise she had made to Emiko. 'Please forgive me, but I must go home now.' she said starting to head off in the direction of her clan's home._

'_Wait a minute.' came Itachi's firm voice from behind her, making the suddenly nervous girl stop and look back at him with a perplexed look on her pretty features. He walked over to her, towering over the girl who continued to gaze up at him timidly, waiting for him to say something. He was so close to her now that she could smell his musky scent and feel the ambiguous heat he was radiating as though he had been doing some light exercise. He lifted his hand slowly and stroked a strand of the girls plum coloured hair, letting the fine locks fall elegantly through his fingers and watching them sway back into place._

'_I really should be-' started Mika uneasily but the older boy put his finger up, silencing her immediately. He was radiating a sense of danger around him, something which screamed out not to get in his way, something which was screaming out at Mika to run away; but she was to frightened. She watched in silence as he pulled his deep cream coloured jacket off and let it fall to the ground making the dead leaves rustle ominously. She felt his left hand slowly make it's way up her left arm, stroking her soft skin delicately until he got to her dark purple sleeve which he exquisitely coiled around one of his fingers before swiftly pulling his fist down again, tearing the fabric along with the tiny bit which was attached to a strand around her dainty neck and making the girl cry out in surprise._

'_Don't scream.' he said firmly but not loudly, she looked up at him fearfully as she tried to hold her top up by the ripped sleeve but he took her small hand in his and pulled it away from the torn material, letting the top fall down her torso and revealing a flat breast. She whimpered as a tear leaked out of her left eye._

'_Itachi, what are you doing?' she asked as the emotion and fear slowly took over her, making it a lot harder to speak. 'What's going on?' immediately after she had finished her last sentence he swiped the back of his left fist across the left side of her cheek, throwing her onto the floor where she whimpered in terror and pain, clutching her top up and rubbing her face where a large, purple bruise was quickly forming._

_She looked up and saw the shirt he had been wearing beneath his jacket fall elegantly to the ground, repeating the rustling sound of the dead leaves and making Mika sob in fear. She looked up into his face beseechingly but his face was neutral as he undid the first button of his trousers, staring at her blankly. He got down on his hands and knees and made his way towards her, watching as her breathing became more and more shallow as he got nearer, her tear stained face begging him not to come any closer but that just spurred him on. The thrill of the whole evening making him feel even more powerful than he knew he already was. He grabbed hold of her flimsy skirt and tugged hard, tearing the purple skirt off and the black material beneath in a clean, diagonal split._

'_What are you doing Itachi?' asked the girl quietly between sobs. She watched in horror as he ignored her and went about ripping her black leggings and pulling them down before tugging her knickers down. Despite her best efforts, Mika couldn't make the older boy listen to her, he wouldn't say anything to her as he slowly moved on top of her, forcing her legs to part as he nudged himself between them. 'Please... Please don't do this…' she sobbed as she saw him fumbling with his trousers, not knowing what he was doing._

_Suddenly she felt something firm press against her inner thigh, scarily close to where her knickers should have been. She screwed her eyes up in fear, trying to block out everything that was happening to her, but she felt Itachi push himself forwards above her and between her legs shoving something inside Mika and making the girl scream out in agony, feeling as though she was being torn apart between her legs. She opened her brown eyes just to close them again as the older boy smacked her around the face again, growling at her to keep quiet; Mika pursed her lips as she tried desperately to stop any sound coming out but when Itachi thrust himself inside her again she couldn't help herself._

_Again and again the boy she had been betrothed to pushed himself inside her, ignoring her sobbing pleads to stop, she tried to hit him but he grabbed hold of her wrists and pressed them against the dirty ground as his rhythm sped up a little, sweat beginning to appear on his handsome face. She tried to squeeze her legs together, hoping the sandpaper-like thing he kept pushing inside her might have to stop, but he was too strong for her and simply nudged her feeble legs further apart._

_Three quarters of an hour later Itachi was putting his clothes back on, wiping the blood which had splattered his stomach on the girls torn skirt before buttoning up again and slipping his shirt on. He looked down at her lifeless body, curled up in the foetal position the tears still running down her cheeks silently from her open but blank eyes. He didn't have much time. He had to wipe her memory and dump her somewhere far away where she wouldn't be found by anyone from this village, he didn't really care about other villages finding her because they wouldn't know who she was anyway, and get back home in time to explain to his little brother what he had done to their clan. He wouldn't tell him about his precious Mika._

_The girl shivered slightly, letting a tiny moan slip from between her lips as he lay her down in the middle of a clearing miles away to the west of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. He looked down at her as she gazed up at him, her expression that of disenchantment._

'_Just remember, Mika Tikaake,' he said quietly, knowing perfectly well that in less than five minutes she wasn't going to remember anything. 'that it was your fault. Yours and my brothers.' he added, watching the tears fill her eyes again as she tried to lift herself up but fell back, her whole body powerless after her terrible ordeal and her mind weakened even further by the boys last haunting statement._

_She hated herself. Itachi could see it in her deep brown eyes, which seemed to have lost some of their former sparkle, and he relished that thought; the thought that in her last moments as Mika Tikaake she hated herself for falling in love with Sasuke._


	53. innocence's nostalgia

The next few days passed in a strange sort of haze of confusion and turmoil, Mika and the rest of team seven were swiftly rescued by reinforcements which had been notified of their whereabouts by a hasty shadow clone courtesy of Naruto, and were all swiftly put in the hospital despite the fact that Mika didn't feel she had the need to.

She was let out four agonisingly empty days later, her mind a buzz of all the information she had gathered over the week or so she had been there, finally making sense. Not a single tear had fallen from her deep hazel eyes since she had regained her memory, she wasn't sure why she hadn't been screaming out in agony since that's what she was doing inside, but her feelings just didn't seem to be coming out; she found it scarily reassuring that she hadn't smiled either though. She hadn't seen Sasuke since that day she had nearly killed his brother and he had let him go; she'd seen Naruto, Kakashi and even said a friendly "hello" to Sakura who had tried desperately to smile but had ended up grimacing at her awkwardly. Rock Lee had even brought her flowers on the third day before swiftly leaving with bright crimson cheeks.

But now she was out, and didn't know what she was going to do with herself. She felt she couldn't really go back to Kakashi's house because she had only stayed there a couple of nights and felt it was rude, she didn't know where Sasuke lived either even though that's where she really wanted to be: with Sasuke.

She found that there was only one place she could really think of, and soon found her feet retracing the path that she had used so often before but which seemed so estranged to her now. She walked through the village, feeling the cool breeze play through her long hair as she looked at the buildings that were so familiar to her and yet so new, she walked past the place Sasuke had shown her on her very first day in Konoha; the place she had so often played with him in and she had felt so safe in and was now dilapidated and forgotten: the Uchiha hamlet. She walked past, her heart strangely calm as she glanced inside, getting a brief glimpse the overgrown weeds and overturned stools and such inside. The dirt road was unkempt and clearly unused which didn't surprise her since it was a dead end other than what used to be her home, she looked to her left as she left the village and gazed miserably at the large field her uncle had owned and hadn't used, the grass longer than she had ever seen it as it grew at it's own will. She entered the woods on either side of the road and remembered flashes of memory which she had forgotten over the past three or four years: a game with Sasuke, running away from her father, chasing after Yama or Keamon.

Suddenly, through the shade of the trees, loomed the gates to the Tikaake hamlet. The one on the right hand side was almost hanging limp from the lowest hinge, having fallen a little further every time a hinge had succumbed to rust and disuse, but the one on the left was still as it had been last time she had seen it. As she neared them she remembered the times when she and Sasuke had run through them pretending to be part of the Anbu black squad or some such, and felt a gloomy smile creep onto her cut lips. She slipped through the gap between the two doors and into the hamlet, looking around unhappily.

She gazed to her left and saw the training area where she and her father or Yama had trained together for hours on end. The small mound of dirt where they used to stand and aim their shuriken now had a small bush growing out of it, some of the targets which had been full of hay were now falling apart, the hay strewn across the ground; one of the targets had a small birds nest poking out of the top of it. As she continued along the dirt path she came to what had been the garden, but the grass was now so overgrown and full of weeds that it looked like a slightly tidier version of uncle Keitaru's field. She gazed at the pond in the centre of the hamlet which had previously contained sparkling water with stunning gold and white fish with a beautiful water feature in the very heart of it from which a rhythmic trickling sound could always be heard. Now it had fallen into disrepair: the feature was covered in mould and not a drop of water could be heard nor seen trickling down from it, the fish were all gone and who could really blame them when Mika stepped forwards and smelt the horrible stagnant odour which the water was emitting.

She sniffed, trying to hold back the horror and grief which was by now already tearing up the back of her throat. She looked back and saw the door to her uncle's house where he lived with his wife and their two sons, Keamon and Mizu with whom Mika had played when she was younger, it had also fallen off of it's hinges and was hanging across the doorway as though telling her not to go in there. She walked towards it, but when she'd taken the steps up onto the veranda which went all around the courtyard she turned right and headed towards her grandparents apartment, noticing the open door which hadn't yet fallen off the hinges. As she turned a corner on the wooden veranda which was creaking ominously, her stunning brown eyes fell upon a shape drawn in white chalk but which had faded due to weather and time. She rubbed her nose against the back of her gloved hand as she read the name written beside it, the writing hard to decipher due to it being faded.

"Ame Yuuhi Tikaake" she let out a small whimper at the memory of her beautiful aunt and her last position, lying on the smooth wooden planks of the Tikaake domain. The young girl walked on, past her grandparents door which still had one last piece of police tape hanging limp from the top left hand corner of the frame and which was also faded to a light shade of cream instead of the glaring yellow it had once been. She came to the large oak doors which separated the outside world from the room in which the Tikaake dance was performed and banquets had been held. She tried to push them open but found that they had been locked from the inside and so gave up, the ripping feeling in the back of her throat intensifying as she turned and headed towards her own home.

She opened the faded blue door with comparative ease, slipping inside as she heard it creak portentously, into the relative darkness. Immediately she found the outline of another body, this time with the words "Keamon Tikaake" written beside it making her let out another groan of anguish at the memory of his handsome face, his friendly smile. Not far from it, through the next door in the sitting room, she found yet another outline with the name "Yoshino Shizuku Tika-" written by the feet, a footprint ironically erasing the last few letters of the name. Mika deduced that Keamon had been trying to protect his grandmother at the time of their deaths. She went through the space where there had been a paper blind separating the sitting room from the kitchen, and into the latter automatically remembering the time she had pulled a saucepan off of the cooker and found it on her head as she screamed out in agony. She had only been about three at the time, but she could remember it as if it had happened yesterday. She noticed a large pot still placed on the burnt out cooker, obviously the supper which they would never eat still waiting to be served up for a family which could never eat it.

Mika's eyes finally started watering when she saw another form on the floor with the name "Hochiko Nogusa Tikaake" spelt out by her left shoulder. As Mika gazed upon the last position of her mother she hated herself for not being there, for not helping them fight for survival. She couldn't help wondering whether, had she been there to help, maybe things would have turned out differently. She turned and marched out of the kitchen, through the sitting room and back into the corridor which led her room, the games room and Yama's room. She walked past her room, not wanting to go in and hate herself more for all the things she had possessed, the wasted money, the wasted space, the wasted time. She glanced into the games room and found that most of the things had been taken either by the police, or by burglars.

She continued along the grimy corridor, watching as her feet kicked up the dust which was covering the floorboards. She stopped as another outline came into existence at her feet, half way between the games room and Yama's room. Riku Tikaake's name was scribbled down beside him in messy writing which was hard enough to read without the fact that it had been scuffed and brushed so many times that it was even less visible than the others. She watched as two tear drops splattered on the floor at the old man's feet before fading as the dust sucked them up, making them disappear from the face of the earth… the same way her clan had.

She padded past him, trying not to touch the chalk marks with her feet, and came to the door to her brothers room. She turned the handle and the whole thing fell off, making her cry out in surprise and jump back, clutching her breast as her heart skipped a beat. Once she had calmed herself she stepped over the broken door and into the dark room, noticing that the curtains had been pulled. She opened them roughly, disturbing several bats which fluttered out of the window, cursing her in their high-pitched squeaky voices. She looked around the boys room, noticing the lack of anything remarkable other than all the memories flooding back into the girls mind reminder her of what she had lost. His desk was covered with papers which she took to be research on whatever he had been doing at that time, but as she brushed some off of the top she found a small pile of adult magazines which made her laugh agonisingly through her tears which were now flowing hard and fast. Suddenly she noticed a photo frame which had fallen onto it's front so that she couldn't see the photo in it. She lifted it up, making sure she didn't touch any of the broken glass and pulled out the dirty picture, shaking it slightly to get rid of some of the more persistent residues. She let out an tormented sob as she saw what the photo was.

It was a photo of a young boy with dark hair and blue eyes, holding a very young looking girl with plum coloured hair who was clutching onto his neck, pulling the boy into a loving hug which he was returning fondly, smiling into the camera while the girls eyes were closed shut as she beamed at the camera holder. The boy looked happy as he held the little girl up in his arms, letting his hip take part of her weight and her arms take some too, his baggy purple trousers dragging along on the ground while his black shirt caught on the girls visible leg. Mika sobbed miserably as she gazed down at the photo of Yama and her, remembering the time he had shown her the Hokage's faces and her parents had taken that photo of her.

She had got her brother all wrong: she had thought he hated her, but this photo proved her wrong. She looked around the room and found that there were no other photos other than this, making her conclude that he had loved her and her feelings towards him hadn't been in vain. She delicately put the photo in her shuriken holster and left the room, sobbing loudly as she did so, banging into the doorframe as she tried to get out into the open air, tears clouding her eyesight. She got back out onto the veranda only to find another chalk shape at her feet with her fathers name written beside the face: "Chokichi Tikaake".

'Otousan!!!' she screamed out in anguish, wishing that by calling him he might just answer and she would wake up to find that this was all just a bad dream. 'Okaasan!!!' she continued, but no reply came and she didn't wake up. 'Niisan!!!' she leapt over the veranda fence and landed in the long grass which had once been a beautiful emerald lawn. 'Itoko!!!' she cried out, wishing Mizu or Keamon would come and take her in their strong arms, rocking her back and forth while they promised that everything would be alright. 'Ojisan, Obasan!!!' she yelled, the grief tearing at the back of her throat as she wished they would wake her from this nightmare. She fell to her hands and knees in the long grass, looking down at the soil where she could just make out another word: "Mizu-" making the girl scramble back up to her feet, feeling her knees try to buckle, crying out in fear and horror. 'Ojiisan… Obaasan!!! Please…' she cried out, screwing her eyes up as tears flowed freely down her already flushed cheeks.

She hated this place. She hated the memories she was remembering from times when this area was a beautiful place to live. She wanted it to be gone, and to take the memory of all her loved ones with it.

'I was better off not remembering!!!' she cried out, glaring around at the house she used to love so much. Suddenly she noticed one last shape, drawn against the wall opposite her: beside the door she had just come through. The arms dangling below it as the body had hung from it's shoulders, the faded trail of blood still visible from it down to the floor; but the one thing that struck her the hardest was that the outline was missing a head. '…no…' she whispered, going over all the names she had already seen in her mind and finding that there was only one she hadn't already seen. 'NO!!!' she screamed, trying to find a loophole to what she had deciphered, but she couldn't find one: it was Yama, her brother. 'NO!!!' she repeated, agonising anguish audible in her torn voice as she wrenched at her head, wishing it wasn't true, trying to wish it all away.

She stood up straight again, calming herself as she lifted her right hand slowly to shoulder level in front of her, her eyes blank and unseeing as flames appeared around her gloved fingers, lapping almost lovingly at her pale skin. But the flames didn't burn her: She had summoned them. She stared straight ahead of her, feeling the tears stream down her red cheeks and the delicious warmth of the fire around her hand as it grew. She wanted to get rid of the evidence that she had had a life before no, she wanted to burn the past and therefore the pain. She lifted her hand, ready to throw the ever growing flame into the side of the Tikaake hamlet and watch it grow until it had taken over the whole place, erasing the past and therefore hers.

But before she could she felt a firm hand on her shoulder, smoothly forcing her to turn around and face whoever it was as everything slowed right down. Mika let the newcomer spin her around, letting the flames shrink so as to take up less place in her palm but not die away completely, her unfocused eyes slowly fell on the new arrival as he moved his face towards his. Sasuke placed his lips on her salty ones, closing his dark eyes as the lips made contact and felt the girl give in to him, letting him lead her back to him and his comforting arms. Her eyes widened for a moment as she worked out what had happened but they closed of their own accord when her brain acknowledged who it was. The tears continued to seep out from underneath her eyelids as she let the memory of everything that was wash over her like a salty wave which had smashed into her and knocked her over painfully but was now washing over her again more gently, almost soothingly, letting it all sink in slowly. She felt Sasuke gently part his lips, affectionately prising hers to follow his lead and let his tongue pass over her cut tenderly, tasting the faintly salty flavour of the tears which were still rolling down her cheeks. He felt her take hold of his t-shirt, clutching it for reassurance which he was more than willing to give her; she lifted her face up slightly, making their lips part for a moment before pushing them back at him moving her tongue along Sasuke's bottom lip she begged for entrance into the cavern, which he allowed with no resistance. Their tongues moved in a twist, Mika leading Sasuke as to what to do next, willing to show him as much as he was willing to learn as long as he didn't ask her how she learnt herself. But soon enough she felt him take the lead, following in the same manner she had begun to show him and proving himself a fast learner as he made her knees go weak.

He pulled away gently, his expression slightly dazed but it was nothing compared to the girls who was looking as though she'd been hit in the face with an ecstasy bat. He stroked her clammy face with his right hand which had been holding her face forwards so that she didn't try to pull away; it turned out he needn't have bothered; watching her gorgeous brown eyes open and gazed at him through the tears which were still running down her face, although they had definitely slowed.

'Noone said that this would be easy.' he whispered as she swallowed with difficulty, trying to stop herself crying. She gazed up at him through her big watery eyes making him want to take all the hurt away. 'But you're strong.' he continued, making her screw her eyes up again as the tears welled up with renewed strength, she shook her head unhappily. 'You are a Tikaake. You are the only Tikaake left,' he corrected himself watching her shoulders shudder with silent sobs of sorrow. 'so you've got to uphold the clan's honour.' he finished, hoping against hope that she would regain her usual devoted self, dedicated to her clan and her family.

'My clan was weak.' he heard her say between sobs, her voice muffled as she continued to gaze down at her feet miserably. 'My clan was defeated by the man who was supposed to link our clans together.'

'My clan was considered the strongest in the village, and there were more of them.' said Sasuke quietly, trying to show her his point. 'And yet they were all murdered too.' Mika looked up at him, her eyes red due to the tears. 'You have to uphold their honour, as I am with my clan.'

The young girl smiled up at him affectionately, a sudden change in her aura could be felt in the air around them as they clung on to each other, all they had left of both their childhoods. She nodded decisively at him, her watery smile becoming stronger as pride flooded her expression.

'I am Mika Tikaake of the Tikaake clan.' she said firmly, still smiling up at him with pride etched in every line of every feature which covered her pretty and determined face. 'And I am proud of who I am.'

**Otousan: father, Okaasan: mother, Niisan: brother, Itoko: cousin, Ojisan: uncle, Obasan: aunt, Ojiisan:grandfather, Obaasan:grandmother**

**Okay well... this brings us to the end of this fanfic... and I am really sad ( but hey! I'm working on another right at this moment, so look out for that!! D and please review!! -**


	54. the angel who strayed sequal

**Okay peeps! This is the first chapter of my Sequal!!! YAY!!! Please check out the rest and review!!! )**

'She is powerful.' came the deep male voice from the shadows as he contemplated what one of his colleagues had been telling him, scratching his chin in the semi darkness. 'She could be of great use to our cause.' he added, closing his eyes slowly as he thought of the things they could do by enhancing the immense power which was held in the young girl.

'She is whiter than white.' came another voice from away to the first mans right, making him look up enquiringly. 'She would never consent to helping us with our-' he paused, wondering whether to repeat what the first man had said. '-"cause".' he finished, opening his eyes which were still shining red as he gazed around at the company he had chosen.

The first man closed his eyes again in displeasure, entwining his fingers in front of him as he felt the presence of the many criminals standing before him.

'I don't believe she knows the extent of her powers.' he said after a pause, still not opening his eyes while he felt one of his followers shifting slightly, tiring of doing nothing but he ignored him. 'If she did she could be very dangerous to our cause.' he continued, talking almost to himself as he opened his eyes slightly to discourage the shifty youth from getting bored.

'If she ever decides to discourage us.' came the deep voice of the youngest member, the member who had been shuffling his feet a moment ago. 'But would she? She spared Itachi.' he added, looking over at the young dark haired man standing not far from him before their leader. He smiled satisfactorily as the dark haired member glared daggers at him in distaste.

'She won't.' he answered darkly, looking back up at the man hidden in the shadows. 'Even my brother does not contemplate such idiocies, and he will discourage her.'

'And are you sure that she will not consent to helping us with what we have embarked on?' asked the first man, tiring of their meagre conversation. Itachi shook his head, sure that Mika Tikaake would never even think of helping the Akatsuki on their quest for power.


End file.
